Reversion
by Asher Tye
Summary: Looks are not always what they appear to be, and sometimes the one who needs our help the most is the one who gave us our start in the first place. A new take on how Sonic and Tails first met.
1. Chapter 1

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… :Sad Face:

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the _Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

Okay, so after reading over the chapters of this story I've written, I am amazed at the sheer number of typos and errors present in it. To that end, I've decided to begin re-uploading the chapters as I work on Chapter Six. Enjoy

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Present:

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It was early morning in the Mystic Ruins and Sonic had taken his customary position sitting at the foot of a certain bed, gazing into the dozing face of its sole occupant. Lying in the bed, tucked securely under the sheets with a contented smile on his furry face was Tails the fox, Sonic's best friend and the single most important person in the cobalt blue hedgehog's life. The azure speedster stared grimly into the sleeping face, his body calm despite the turmoil raging through his tormented mind, a torment that had come to him each and every day of the past two years he'd found it necessary to perform this ritual; ever since Tails had turned ten. The now twenty year old hedgehog started a little as the fox let out a quiet yawn, an action that easily displayed his sharp canines as he did so.

It had really been two whole years. Two years since he'd been forced to take root here in the workshop Tails had built in Mystic Ruins. Two years since that horrible day his eldest friend's condition had worsened to the point that he could no longer be allowed to remain alone for longer than the space of a few hours. Two years since Sonic had returned home just in time to find a poor and frightened little kit bawling his eyes out, completely unable to tell friend from foe, fully believing himself to be completely without anyone to come to his aid. That Sonic had been able to undo some of the damage of that day mattered not, his friend had needed him and it had only been purest coincidence the hedgehog had been coming for a visit.

Slowly cerulean eyes opened as the fox blinked into the morning sun shining on his soft, light colored fur, fur that was much too soft and much too light for a fox that, by all rights, should be growing into adulthood. But, as he watched young Tails awaken, Sonic knew the truth of the matter. Blue eyes locked onto green, focusing on this perceived intruder to his domain, and Sonic found himself fervently hoping that today would be different, that something had stuck.

_&Please kid, say "Good Morning Sonic" or any variation of that, just this once,&_ Sonic thought, a hope that was quickly dashed as he noticed the confused look beginning to spread over the fox's youthful face.

"Who… Who are you?" the kit asked nervously, pulling his sheets up to cover his muzzle in a childish attempt to hide, as if afraid of a stranger who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Though a little part of him had died inside at the question, Sonic refused to let the kit see it as he began his part in this sick little drama life seemed to have cast him in.

"Hey kid, it's me Sonic," the hedgehog answered.

"Do I… Do I know you?" Tails asked, the sheet lowering somewhat. Outwardly Sonic chuckled in good humor while inwardly he cursed everything that ever was and ever would be for making him do this.

"Of course you do Tails, I'm your big brother," Sonic again answered, a friendly smile on his face.

"Sonic… my big brother," the fox repeated, testing out the strange but familiar words. "But… you're a hedgehog, and I'm not."

_&At least he's still as sharp as he used to be,&_ Sonic thought bitterly, this seeming constant only serving to dredge up memories that would serve no purpose other than to make him sad. "Well you were kinda, adopted, ya know. But it's cool, you're still my little bro, you know."

"Then… where are our parents?"

"Gone I'm afraid," Sonic replied, fully prepared for the storm of tears that sometimes followed the tragic news. Fortunately, this time the fox seemed to accept it rather well, so the hedgehog continued. "Afraid it's been just you and me for a few years now. You remember?" Quickly the fox shook his head. "Do you remember me at least?" Another head shaking occurred, but this one was slower, less certain of the answer. "Come on," Sonic said with another smile, latching onto this small hope, "you and me, we're as thick as thieves. We've been on adventures, met some great friends, and even saved the world from Eggman, Chaos, and Solaris just to name a few of the butts we've whumped ."

"We… We did?" the fox asked, warming up to Sonic's semi-lies. Quietly Tails began to digest the information he'd been given, his mind attempting to reconcile this seemingly new knowledge with the memories that lay inside.

_&Please let there be enough of Miles left to make this easy,&_ Sonic hoped as he stared at the fox whose hands clasped his head as he struggled to remember.

"Yes, I… I remember we flew a plane up to the Death Egg… We met Knuckles on the Floating Island…" gloveless hands dropped to orange furry sides as Tails stared at his hedgehog friend, his eyes unfocused for just a few seconds before he smiled. "Sonic, I remember now!" Sonic smiled a real smile now, glad that fate had decided to go easy on the kid today. It wasn't often, but there were mornings Sonic almost had to go through each step of his friend's life with him before jogging enough neurons to bring some semblance of his memory back.

"Hey kid."

"What happened? How come I couldn't remember… anything?" Tails asked in a confused voice, his mind thoroughly out of sorts as he struggled to find his own answer. Sonic did as he always did and acted quickly before that ever so sharp mind came to the conclusions the hedgehog could never allow it to reach.

"Morning amnesia the doctors called it," the hedgehog lied to his best friend. "You just need some help getting things straight in the mornings sometimes, not very often, maybe once a year or something like that."

"Really?"

"'Fraid so lil bro, but don't worry, that's why I'm here." So saying Sonic grinned reassuringly at the eight year old fox, rubbing his head affectionately. Tails giggled as he felt the move, a smile on his face Sonic hoped with all his heart would remain for all the kit's remaining years.

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The Past: 14 years ago

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Adoption day. Oh how he hated adoption day. Everyone else at the orphanage loved the day the prospective parents showed up looking for discarded kids they could take home, and all the children got dressed up in their best outfits and made themselves look their cutest as they were trotted out for display like so much merchandise offered in a shop. And yet, as the six year old hedgehog named Olgilvie stood around the common room dressed in his nicest shirt and jacket, his cobalt colored quills combed and prodded into place, he couldn't help but feel bored and more than a little agitated. Always an active boy filled with energy, Olgilvie hated having to stand around and try to look cute for others, especially when just outside the front door it was a bright and sunny day he just knew was made for running. Of course it didn't help matters that he went into each of these little "Pageants of the Forsaken" knowing that he stood a zero percent chance of getting picked. When he'd been younger? Maybe; before his quills became sharp and he began to have trouble staying in one place for an extended period of time. But now? Prospective Mommies and Daddies weren't keen on getting a child they had to be careful of when they touched, one who couldn't stay still long enough to be tucked in, a spiny ball of needles and energy. And of course it didn't help that Olgilvie's coloring made him something of an oddity, even amongst his fellow hedgehogs. No one else had ever heard of a hedgehog with cobalt blue quills like his, a fact that often caused some to wonder if there was anything else "off" about him. No, the youthful sprinter didn't see himself getting adopted this time or any time for that matter; hence why he tended to hate Adoption Day.

So it was that, as the children lined up to look their best, Olgilvie reached into a pocket and pulled forth the toy he'd managed to pilfer from the toy box when the head mistress wasn't looking; a medium sized yoyo. Originally the hedgehog had thought the circular pieces of plastic tied to a string to be a fairly boring item, but the truth was it was small enough to go missing without anyone noticing and he could quickly hide it so, for the moment, it helped to alleviate his boredom. And he'd actually managed to get fairly good with it too. Naturally skilled at hand-eye coordination, the spiny kitten found that once he'd mastered keeping the little disks from getting tangled up in the line, he was quite capable of performing tricks such as making a cat's cradle and walking the dog. It also helped that the toy could be used to smack the other children in the orphanage from a good distance and not get caught himself, a game the foul tempered hedgehog loved to play, particularly when he was having a bad day. Nothing made a miserable Mobian feel better than making someone else feel miserable.

Casually he cast a glance at the new adult that had just entered the room, a tall fox wearing a pair of goggles on his head, a brown scarf around his neck, a matching vest, and a satchel strapped over his shoulder and hanging at his waist. All around him the children voiced as one a message of greeting that had been taught to them by the orphanage's staff, a speech Olgilvie simply aped so as not to appear out of place and get his ear cuffed by the lady that was currently watching them. Having thus met the "enemy" as the youngster began to think of the fox, he then turned on his heel and walked over to the furthest corner to practice his yoyo until the vulpine had either made his selection or asked to see something in a younger model.

Reaching into his pocket, the hedgehog pulled out a few coins, carefully setting them on the floor in an organized pattern. Olgilvie had been previously trying to master the trick known as "Around the World," but one too many collisions with lamps and other assorted breakable furniture had gotten him banned from playing with his little toy in such a way. Now he'd decided to practice making the yoyo go where he wanted to throw it, all the better to strike the backs of knees and funny bones for some cheap laughs later. Again and again he shot the disks forward, striking each of the coins in turn. With a flick of the wrist he was able to "walk the dog," making the spinning toy travel along the ground to each of the four metal circles in turn before rising around to his hand. A smile came to his face as he completed the loop for the fourth straight time in a row without recalling the yo-yo, a personal best.

"That's very impressive," came a voice as the sound of clapping hit the hedgehog's ears. Startled Olgilvie turned, quite surprised to find himself now the only orphan left in the main room… and the fox from before now watching him quietly. "I'm sorry if I startled you, I didn't want to break your concentration."

"You didn't startle me," the hedgehog lied, an angry look coming over his face. Why couldn't anyone have told him the children had been released? Quickly Olgilvie pocketed his yoyo and turned to leave.

"For someone who says they weren't startled, you certainly looked the part," the fox called. The blue hedgehog turned around again to face this Mobian.

"Look furface, if I said I wasn't scared, I wasn't scared," he said in his gruffest and most ogre-like voice, a voice he'd used countless times to successfully intimidate the other children when they got on his nerves. This time however, all the voice managed to do was cause the fox before him to let out a quiet laugh. "What's so funny?!" Olgilvie demanded.

"You are. The way you puffed up and became indignant over such a trifling little comment, and then tried to bluster about it, especially since I paid you a compliment. You are as bad tempered as they say. I must admit I didn't believe them." A warm feeling of embarrassment came to hedgehog ears.

"'They' say? Who's 'they?'" the boy asked, already knowing the answer. As the only blue hedgehog he or anyone knew of, Olgilvie was something of an oddity in these parts. It wasn't out of the question for an out-of-towner to be told about him and decide to come see for himself. Already the hedgehog decided he didn't like this fox as he favored the vulpine with a scowl. "Well you've seen the freak now, so you can leave and go home to brag," the hedgehog growled as he once more moved to leave.

"'Freak?' I gotta say its surprising to hear someone with something as superficial as an aberrant fur color regard themselves as a freak."

"Ha, shows what you know," Olgilvie said as he stopped and turned. He didn't really understand why he was bothering to explain this to the fox, he'd never bothered to voice these opinions to anyone, preferring to take a moral high ground that let him compensate for his less than pleasant social skills. "Blue hedgehogs ain't natural in case you're blind, I'm the only one around, which is probably the reason I'm an orphan in the first place."

"That seems like a foolish reason to give up your kid," the fox said.

"Seems like a perfect reason to me," the hedgehog chirped. "I'm a mutant, who'd want a mutant for a kid?"

"Well fortunately for me," the fox answered as his tail rose up from behind him to mimic an arm rubbing his chin… while a second tail also rose to touch the first at what would have been its elbow had it been a real arm. Olgilvie's eyes widened as the fox continued, "my parents didn't seem to mind."

"You… You've got two tails!!" At the hedgehog's observation the fox feigned surprise and looked at both appendages as though seeing them for the first time.

"My stars, you're right, I do," the fox said happily, his face looking similar to that of a kid who had awoken on Christmas to find the exact gift he'd wanted awaiting him under the tree. As he watched the fox's reaction, the blue Mobian's eyes once more narrowed.

"Oh I get it," Olgilvie said. "I'm a freak, so they send in a freak to try to adopt me, is that it? You have two tails and I'm blue so immediately I'll fall all over you trying to get you to adopt me, right?"

"Nope," the fox answered without even missing a beat.

"Nope?"

"For such a messed up little hedgehog you certainly seem to have an ego on you," the fox explained. "I didn't even know about you being here until I showed up in town to look at the orphanage. If you want to read that as me trying to be sympathetic to whatever plight you think you're in, you may, but I'm not. It's just a coincidence that I came to Green Hill at all."

"Yeah right," the hedgehog spat. "You expect me to believe you stayed here when I was all alone just to see me do yoyo tricks?"

"I'm a fox, my attention gets snagged fairly easily if I'm not careful," the fox admitted. "Besides, I happen to be pretty good at using a yoyo too, I was just curious about another aficionado." Suddenly the fox found the yoyo pressed into one of his hands by the surly hedgehog.

"Prove it," he challenged brusquely. Smiling the fox looped the string around his middle finger and gave the small toy a testing throw. Predictably the yoyo became entangled in its own string, stopping at the floor with an audible thud. "Ha, knew it."

"Give me a break, how comfortable are you with a new yoyo?" the fox countered, allowing the string to unwind itself before he gathered it back up into the disks. Another flick of the wrist and once more the toy descended, this time stopping a few centimeters off the floor before coming back to the vulpine's hand.

"Wow, scintillating," Olgilvie commented, wondering why he was being so patient with this strange adult. This time the fox shot him a somewhat annoyed glare, and inwardly the hedgehog smiled. He'd finally managed to get a rise out of his "guest." Suddenly, without warning, the vulpine threw the yoyo downwards, sending the disks spinning at a tremendous speed before rocketing back up with a slight jerk of the finger. This time instead of catching the toy, the fox let it bypass the hand it was attached to, allowing its string to wrap around his other hand as it came back down. Again and again the yoyo was spun around his arms, fingers, and wrists, moving at a very impressive speed as it twisted and twined around his fingers and its own string. Finally the yoyo's twisting was stopped and it began going up and down on the short bit of string that remained, the rest having made a rather intricate design between the vulpine's hands. After a few seconds the fox jerked his hands, causing the yoyo to once more wind back up its string.

"You might want to step away in a minute," the fox cautioned. For a brief second Olgilvie considered stepping closer just to annoy the boasting vulpine, but his eye caught the speed with which the yoyo was about to finish escaping its strings. It was thanks only to reflexes beyond those of a normal six year old that Olgilvie was able to leap backwards quick enough to avoid getting hit by the toy as the fox pulled the thing into a massive loop, standing up as it began to twirl around his head, narrowly missing the wall as it did so. Olgilvie's eyes widened as he watched the yoyo spin around a grand total of five times before it once more wound back up with its string, snapping audibly into the fox's hand. "And that is what we call 'Around the World,'" the kitsune said triumphantly. Quickly his hedgehog audience composed himself, attempting to appear nonchalant about what he'd seen.

"Okay, so you've got some skills," the hedgehog said, for all the world unimpressed by the vulpine's tricks. Fortunately, this adult proved cagier than others… and it didn't hurt that he had seen Olgilvie's stunned face earlier.

"Well if you want to see something really impressive," the fox intoned as he once more threw the yoyo, making it walk the dog. Quickly he stepped over to the wall, allowing the toy to approach as well, giving its string a slight jerk upwards as it did so. Immediately the little spinning disks jumped, catching onto the wall and beginning to walk up the wall itself. With both gravity and friction fighting the little toy, of course it was not long before it lost steam and fell back to the ground. Before it could completely lose its spin, the fox gave a much harder jerk to rewind the toy back into his hand.

"Okay, that's impressive," the hedgehog admitted, having never seen someone defy gravity like that.

"Well thank you." So saying the fox pulled the toy from his finger and handed it back to the blue boy. As he did so however, he decided it was time to ask a question. "Not for nothing, but I typically like to know the names of the people I impress, especially when I do it on a one on one basis."

"What, didn't 'they' tell you it when 'they' told you about me?" Olgilvie asked insolently. If this had any effect on the vulpine, he hid it well, far too well for the hedgehog to notice.

"Not really," the fox admitted. "It seems that 'they' were rather vague on a lot of details. So, what is your name?"

"Uh-uh, not gonna tell you so you can blab it around. If you gotta call me something, 'Blue Boy' or 'The Hedgehog' 'll do."

"Ah I see. Not only is he embarrassed with his blue coloring, he also thinks he has an embarrassing name," the fox stated.

"Let me guess, you do too?" Olgilvie replied snottily. "Trust me, it can't be as bad as Olgilvie…" Suddenly the hedgehoglet slapped his hand over his mouth as he realized what he had just said. Immediately his eyes hardened as he saw the sparkle in the fox's eyes.

"Olgilvie, eh?" he said, a smile appearing on his face that showed his pointy canines.

"Fine, go ahead, laugh," Olgilvie huffed, turning his back to the fox as he did so and preparing to stomp off in anger, the beginnings of tears appearing in his eyes. Despite his earlier decision not to like this fox, Olgilvie had been rather surprised to find himself liking the elder Mobian, if only because he didn't seem to be interested in making fun of the boy like so many others liked doing. Now that he'd revealed his name though, what prevented him from going down that path?

"It's nice. Not stuffy and fun to say," came the reply that stopped the hedgehog in his tracks. Cautiously he looked back at the adult.

"What?"

"Well the way you were carrying on, I thought it was something pretentious like Alfonse or Constantine. And it helps that Olgilvie's fun to say. Still I guess I can see why you wouldn't like it." For a minute the fox thought before he suddenly bent his knees so he could stare into the young hedgehog's eyes. "If you like I could call you Olly. I'd think that'd be a little more acceptable than 'Blue Boy,' especially given your dislike of your blue quills."

"Told you your name wasn't as embarrassing as mine," the hedgehog intoned as he considered the fox's proposal. "But Olly sounds okay, I guess." In truth the hedgehog disliked any reference to his hated first name, but as "Olly" could easily be confused for Oliver, he was willing to work with it… at least until he got a proper name for himself. Suddenly the boy remembered something, a sly smile appearing on his face. "So what's your name?" The fox blinked at this question, just a little surprised.

"Hmmm?"

"I told you my name, you have to tell me yours."

"I don't recall making any such bargain," the fox said with a mischievous smile.

"Yes you did, you said…"

"No, you're the one who surmised my name was odd, I never said I would reveal it."

"No fair!"

"No, it isn't. But then 'Life isn't fair,'" the fox intoned in a somewhat somber tone. "Fortunately, there are quite a few of us who think that needs to be changed."

"So then you'll tell me your name?" the hedgehog asked again. The fox once more rose to his full height.

"If you think being Olgilvie the blue hedgehog is a hardship to bear, consider what it was like for a two tailed kit holding the moniker of Miles Prower."

"'Miles… Prower?'" the hedgehog asked slowly, unsure of just why that would be a difficult name to bear. Patiently Miles alleviated young Olly's confusion.

"Try saying it fast…" he suggested.

"Miles Prower… Miles Prower… Miles Prower…" the hedgehog repeated to himself. Suddenly his eyes widened as he realized what he was saying. "Miles per hour?"

"A pun that happens to become all the nastier when one considers you have to say it fast to make it apparent. It gave new meaning to the phrase 'talking a mile a minute.'" Suddenly the fox began to chuckle.

"Mr. Prower," came a voice from the door. A female monkey named Lillian Price stood in the doorway, a clipboard in her hands as she smiled a smile Olly knew to be more for show than anything else. "I'm sorry Mr. Prower, I didn't realize you were still in here. I do hope Olgilvie hasn't been giving you too much trouble."

"No more than I would have given him if our ages were reversed," Miles lied, or at least that's what Olgilvie chose to believe.

"Don't sweat it, me and Miles were just messin' around," Olgilvie announced, much to the shock of Ms. Price.

"Olgilvie, that's not right!" she barked at the young boy as Miles himself turned to face his new acquaintance.

"She's right Olly. The proper way to say it is 'Miles and I,'" he said, causing Lillian to sputter as Olly chuckled lightly. Finally the monkey regained her composure.

"In any event, MISTER Prower, I'm afraid visiting time is over." At her words, the fox suddenly looked at his watch, his own eyes widening as he saw how much time had passed.

"Nuts, you're right," Miles announced. "I need to be somewhere in a few hours."

"Ha ha ha," Olgilvie sounded at the absurdity of the fox's statement. That was when he noticed Miles was walking away, his twin tails wagging behind him as he did so. Quickly the hedgehog moved to catch up. "So… I guess this is good-bye, huh?"

"Maybe, maybe not," came the vulpine's response.

"What do you mean?"

"Like I said, I'm not from around here," the fox reminded his hedgehog acquaintance. "I may not be able to make it back here for a while."

"Such a shame," Lillian said, her voice taking on the neutrality of one who has lost interest in a conversation or event. Olgilvie on the other hand looked completely indifferent. This might have been taken at face value had Miles's sharp eyes not noticed the small hedgehog's crestfallen appearance the moment the fox had reminded him he was not a native of Green Hill. This, combined with Ms. Price's lack of concern for the matter, was what prompted the youthful kitsune to speak next.

"Ah, what the heck," he said, a jovial smile on his face. "It's not like it's a difficult commute to me." Suddenly the hedgehog's face took on an indignant look to it. He knew charity when he heard it and, despite his current situation, he was nobody's charity case.

"Don't bother, I'm done with ya," he said.

"But I'm not done with you," the fox pointed out. "You were trying something with at yoyo before. I wanna see what you were gonna pull off."

"Pssh," the hedgehog replied, tossing the aforementioned toy to the ground. "I'm done with this stupid thing." So saying the hedgehog walked off, fairly certain he'd seen the last of this Miles Prower person. Had he turned back his head and glanced behind him, even for a moment, he might have noticed the extremely amused face the fox was casting in his direction.

_&Heh heh… oh yes, Olgilvie, I think I want to see you again…&_

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… ::Sad Face::

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the_ Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

Well, if the number of hits for this story are any indication, it seems people are fairly interested in this twist on the standard Sonic meets Tails plot. I must admit I think it's fairly clever as well, though I guess I'd be considered biased wouldn't I? Hopefully I can keep the timeline from bunching too much together with regards to the games, but if not I hope you will afford me a bit of leeway if a few errors in continuity arise with the game series. I should also say that while I will try to answer questions asked in the reviews left here, I reserve the right to take the fifth as it will give away something important to my story's plot. That said I love hearing what people have to say about this, especially considering I think I'm on fairly uncharted territory where the Sonicverse is concerned (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). As they say, enjoy the new chapter.

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Present

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"But I don't wanna!" Tails complained as he tossed down the mush covered spoon in his hand.

"You can't always get what you want, kiddo," Sonic replied as he ate his own breakfast meal, piping hot oatmeal, same as his little ward. Immediately the fox huffed in childish anger, but still picked up his spoon and continued eating his breakfast. Not that he had much choice. It was cold outside, even for those with a natural coat of fur on their bodies, and the wind and snow were only making it more so. The blue hedgehog thanked his little friend for having the foresight to build his workshop/home close enough to the train to keep this from being a problem, even if the little kit wouldn't say the same in his current state. Suddenly there came a knock at the door, causing both mammals to look at the wooden barrier in curiosity. Outside it had stopped snowing, but as the sun had not come out from behind the clouds that did little to make the two feet of snow that had parked itself right outside any less of a deterrent for the casual visitor. "What nutcase would come visit us today?" At the opposite side of the table, Tails snickered mischievously, obviously ready to hope that this new intruder would distract Sonic long enough to forget about the appointment they had to go to.

Forgetting about his own breakfast for the moment, Sonic hopped up from his chair and walked over to the front door, bracing himself for the cold chill that was about to strike him.

"SONIC!" yelled Amy as she charged inward and grabbed her beloved hedgehog in a bone crushing embrace that made Sonic envision any one of Eggman's crushing robotic devices. The years had done little to curb the vivacious Ms. Rose's obsession with the former Hero of Earth, especially now that she knew he wasn't going to be running off into the wilderness for days on end.

"Amy, aren't you a little old for the whole screaming and tackling thing?" Sonic asked as he managed to draw in enough breath to speak.

"I can't help it Sonic, you're just so huggable it's impossible," Amy blissfully said as behind them Tails broke down into a fit of giggles as he watched the two adults.

"Yeah you keep laughing furball, you still need to get ready to go because we still have an appointment to keep," Sonic commanded, causing the fox's fit of giggles to abruptly end as he favored his guardian with a sour look.

"Another appointment? Didn't he have one…?" Amy asked, finally releasing her blue beau so he could freely answer her.

"Yes Amy, last year," Sonic replied, giving his would-be girlfriend a short stare that told her not to say too much. The last thing he needed was for Tails to accidentally overhear something he didn't need to. "Tails go get dressed; it's too cold outside for us to be running around naked."

"But I haven't finished my breakfast!" the cub whined. Sonic was not fooled, especially considering he'd been watching his surrogate son eat at a snail's pace for the past half hour.

"Well you probably shouldn't have tried to stall then lil' bro," the hedgehog replied, pointing a commanding finger up the stairs to the cub's room. "Go." Sullenly did Tails hop off his chair , casting a baleful but completely ineffective look at Sonic before noisily padding up the stairs to get ready. With the fox secured, Sonic turned back towards Amy. "Okay, I know you're new to this but try to be a bit more careful. I don't want Tails to know how much he goes to see the doctor."

"Is that wise?" the female hedgehog asked. "I mean, he's a smart kid, can you really keep that kind of information from him forever?"

"Not always," Sonic admitted. "But trust me, it's better to hide this particular bit of information from him then reveal it."

"You sure? I'm mean, Tails has always seemed like he could handle anything…"

"Miles could handle anything, that's why we're not dirt poor and living on the streets," Sonic corrected his friend. "Look Amy, just trust me, I know from personal experience how much the kid can take…"

"I'm ready!" Tails called as he came tromping down the stairs wearing his thick coat, a stocking cap, and a pair of snow boots. The kit was currently in the process of wrapping a very familiar scarf around his neck, a brown one that caused Sonic to stop for a few minutes. Upon seeing that his "big brother" was not also similarly attired, the kitsune let out an audible groan. "Sonic! Now I have to wait on you."

"So what's that, a second or so?" Sonic casually remarked as he went to collect his own winter gear.

"But this stuff is hot..." the fox complained, sounding for all the world like a boy being asked to endure the most horrible of conditions there could be.

"It won't kill you to be a little too warm for a few minutes."

"Bet you'd be surprised if it did," Tails muttered under his breath. Despite the fact that he was not meant to, Sonic heard every word and let out an exasperated sigh as he did so.

"Amy, do you think you can keep his mind off how 'terrible' his life is while I get dressed?"

"Sure Sonic," Amy called as the blue hedgehog left. Almost immediately she was confronted by a pair of cerulean eyes staring her right in the face, an impatience in them that also spoke of the impertinence of youth. "So, how've you been?"

"I woke up this morning with amnesia," Tails replied, causing the pink hedgehog to go rigid. Though she had learned about the kitsune's condition from Sonic, her initial discovery had been quite by accident, when he had one day professed ignorance as to her own identity. Thinking it to be a joke from the normally playful fox, Amy had proceeded to play along, unknowingly making the kit to begin to recoil from the inconsistencies between what she began to tell him and what Sonic had told him. To say the blue hedgehog had been furious with her was an understatement.

"So I take it no problems now, huh?"

"None that I know of," the fox replied, grabbing a ball from the floor and beginning to toss it into the air.

"Okay, I'm ready," Sonic called down the stairs.

"Hey Sonic, how about we take the Tornado?" Tails asked with a smile on his face. "I bet it'd be a lot quicker than the train."

"Not in this weather it won't," Sonic explained.

"Would… Would it be alright if I came too?" Amy asked, reminding the two males that she was present. She'd never actually been to one of Tails's appointments, and had no idea what they entailed, but she considered herself a friend, more so in Sonic's case, and it didn't sit right for the two of them to have to hold all this in all by themselves. As she waited for an answer, Tails turned his head towards Sonic. After a few minutes the blue hedgehog nodded his head.

"I suppose it wouldn't be a problem. We can all go have some hot chocolate afterwards…"

"Yes!" Tails cheered as the three exited the house, Sonic locking the door behind them as they left.

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Past: 14 years ago

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"AH!" screamed a blonde girl sporting pigtails as she fell face first into a puddle of mud, courtesy of the blue leg that had tripped her up and moved too fast for her to retaliate. As she rose from the wet dirt, her floral print dress ruined thanks to her unexpected fall, she cried her indignation at her humiliation as a few feet behind her her tormentor fell over in a fit of laughter at her discomfort. "You rotten blue freak!" she screamed angrily, tears falling down her cheeks as the two friends she'd previously been walking with gingerly helped her back up, scrupulously careful not to allow any of the dripping mud to come in contact with their own outfits.

Inside the Green Hill Orphanage's building, watching the children as they played outside from a big bay window, two adult figures stood, one a rather severe looking female monkey who watched the scene disapprovingly, the other a male fox of slight build sporting two tails and aviator's goggles. As he watched the scenario play out, the fox released a slight chuckle, as though approving of the hedgehog's actions.

"Mr. Prower," Ms. Price started, her own face pinched in disapproval, "I hardly think that is the sort of behavior that should be approved of. This is just one more example of Olgilvie's overall bad attitude and wanton disrespect for others."

"Oh I don't know," the fox responded, his voice friendly even in the face of someone he didn't like, "I think if I had to choose I'd pick his version of disrespect over that little girl's, at least he's more honest when he doesn't like you."

"Elizabeth is one of our kindest and best mannered children. I hardly think you can compare her to a little hellion like…"

"She was talking about him as she and her friends passed, making fun of him, most likely just loud enough for him to hear and get the point," Miles countered, an eyebrow raising as he seemed for all the world to be stating facts any dullard would know.

"If that is the case, how would you have known?" Ms. Price responded, her own lips curved in a semi-sneering smile as she believed she'd found the flaw in the young fox's logic.

"I can read lips." Once more Lillian looked aghast at this information as her guest returned his attention to the blue hedgehog that even now was busy stretching his legs in preparation for a run. The constraints of the area kept him from going as fast as he probably would have liked, but he managed to get up to a respectable speed, especially when he began to use the playground equipment and trees as viable running surfaces. "The kid's got spirit, a lot of it."

"He has too much," Lillian objected. "He's a wild child, completely convinced he can flout the rules and do as he pleases. See how he doesn't even consider the other children as he runs around wildly?" Indeed it did appear Olgilvie was running in an erratic pattern, and more so that he cared little for the other children who tended to freeze as they saw the blue blur approach and only unfreeze when he was safely passed, making for an interesting variant on the game of Red-Light-Green-Light. What Miles saw was a boy who was scrupulously avoiding hitting anyone as he moved at a speed that would have been difficult to control had he been a fully experienced adult, sacrificing his beloved high speed in favor of not bothering those wanting to use the monkey bars, the see-saws, or the slide.

_&He takes into account all the variables that could get into his way as he runs, and he does it fast enough to keep up with his body… impressive.&_

"I want him," the fox stated as calmly and smugly as one who has just stated one of the immutable laws of the universe itself. He had to admit he was surprised to have reached this conclusion himself, particularly given how their first meeting had gone, but it was quite obvious in the two months since he'd met the boy, Olgilvie had grown on the two tailed fox. Though he'd always intended to adopt a child of his own, he'd actually been planning on a baby, or maybe even a toddler. He'd only humored the monkey who ran this orphanage when she'd asked him to at least meet with the older children.

As she heard the words escape her guest's lips, Ms. Price's simian features widened, aghast as she turned her head to look at the orange Mobian as though he were quite insane.

"You… You can't be serious," she said. "Don't you see how much of a bad seed he is?"

"I see a boy with an impressive amount of talent and a very engaging personality," Miles replied. "And I want him."

"I understand you wish to adopt, but…"

"Ms. Price, I am given to understand that there is a massive amount of paperwork involved in adoption, as well as being a time consuming process. Since that is the case I would much appreciate not having to restate my intentions more times than absolutely necessary."

"I must warn you that you're making a mistake, one you won't be able to easily take back."

"Allow me to worry about that, Ms. Price, you may worry about expediting the process. Now if you will excuse me, I believe I will go outside to see my future son."

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As he exited the building into the communal play yard used by all the orphaned children living in Green Hill, Miles couldn't help but smile as he spotted his young blue friend leaning against a tree on the other side, somewhat tired after his previous exertions. Smiling the vulpine brought his hands up to his mouth, forming an organic megaphone as he prepared to call out.

"SONIC!!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The effect was immediate as Olgilvie's body suddenly went rigid and he whirled around, already knowing who it was calling his nickname. Upon discovering the amazing velocities the young hedgehog was able to reach only a single visit after their first meeting, Miles had scrapped his earlier idea of referring to Olgilvie as "Olly." Such a name did not fit with so defining a talent as the hedgehog's speed, and thus had he begun to refer to the little orphan as "Sonic," much to the youngster's incredible delight. And, since no one else would call him that, whenever the name was sounded, Sonic immediately knew who had finally arrived.

"YEAH!" Sonic squealed as his feet revved up and he shot forward, once more utilizing his unbelievable speed to cut short the distance between himself and the fox he had come to adore, despite his original resistance. Unfortunately, while acceleration was a skill the hedgehog had long since mastered, deceleration, as well as completely stopping, was another matter entirely. Emerald eyes went wide as the young sprinter suddenly realized that his speed, combined with the slickness of the wet ground, was now severely hindering his efforts to stop right in front of the visiting fox. "LOOK OUT!!" he wailed as he realized the impending crash, closing his eyes in the hope that what he couldn't see wouldn't happen. It was the moment his eyes closed, the very second he could no longer see where his feet were being planted, that an errant stone decided to place itself right at the tip of his foot. Suddenly Sonic found himself tumbling head over heels forward and then sliding in a deep rut face first before coming to a painful stop. Though his body ached at the harsh treatment he had just received, the fact that he was not mixed up in a jumble of furry arms and legs immediately signaled to his young mind that something outside the realm of the expected had happened. Spitting out a mouthful of muddy dirt and grass, Sonic looked backwards to where Miles Prower had previously stood, seeing nothing but the beginnings of the rut he had unwittingly dug. "Jeeze I obliterated him," the hedgehog said in a distressed voice, already imagining what kind of punishment he'd get for accidentally reducing a visitor to thin air.

"I think you need to do something more than crash into someone at high speed to obliterate them kiddo," came a familiar voice, not from behind Sonic, but rather above him. Casting a confused glance skyward, Sonic's emerald eyes once again widened as his ears flattened against his head in shock. Above him, as natural as if he'd always been there, Miles hovered in mid air, his twin tails spinning behind him so fast as to seem like a solid orange disk that kept him aloft in clear defiance of gravity's will. "Are you all right?" he asked of the downed boy, concerned that Sonic had not gotten to his feet already.

"You're… You're flying?" Sonic asked in startled wonder. "You can fly!" This time it was Miles's turn to give a confused glance. Helicopter flight utilizing his tails had been a skill he'd acquired at an extremely young age, one that he had gotten so used to it was unnatural to him to even consider the idea that it was an abnormal feat for a fox to perform. Indeed even amongst his peers repeated observance of the fox's aerial talents had caused them to lose their novelty, becoming something of an accepted norm amongst those Miles regularly came into contact with. Thus it was, for Miles Prower at least, that the skill he now displayed had become something of a given, a thing others were to automatically assume to be a part of him. It honestly had never occurred to him to tell Sonic he was in a very literal sense a flying fox.

"Didn't I mention that?" Miles asked.

"You said you flew… I thought you meant… like a plane or something," Sonic explained as he jumped to his feet, all thoughts of skinned knees and muddy quills cast from his mind at the vulpine's sudden revelation.

"Oh yeah, those too, but I can also fly with my tails," the fox stated matter-of-factly.

"How… when… where…" the hedgehog's voice became increasingly excited as he grasped hold of this new revelation he'd never known in all the weeks the two had known each other. "YOU can FLY!!" he finally blurted again, amazement clear in his voice. Slowly the fox descended, his feet firmly planting themselves on the ground as his tails stopped spinning.

"Is it really so amazing?"

"YOU FLEW!" Sonic yelled, still unable to grasp this amazing feat. "If I'd have known that, I'd have called you Wings, or Sky, not Tails," Sonic semi-lied. Sonic had thought up that particular moniker as something of a rude comment on the fox's physical state during the second visit he'd made to the orphanage. It had been quite surprising that, rather than taking offense over the mean-spirited nickname, Miles Prower had instead taken a liking to it. Thus it was that the hedgehog had taken almost every opportunity to say it, hoping to annoy the adult into finally losing his temper, a ploy that, thankfully by the time Sonic had warmed up to Miles, had failed.

"Meh, I'll stick with Tails if it's all the same," the kitsune said. "So I take it the shoes are working well?"

"Shoes?" Sonic asked quizzically before looking down at the brand new looking red and white shoes on his feet. For as long as he could remember, Sonic had always had trouble with footwear. Given the speeds he could easily reach and the frequency at which he ran, it was not difficult to see how easily the young boy could wear out a pair of shoes, a fact that caused some friction between himself and those in charge of the orphanage's funds. It was such a problem, in fact, that those in charge had even considered allowing the hedgehog to go barefooted unless necessary; a plan that would have inevitably left Sonic unable to achieve the speeds he so adored.

Of course, the moment Miles had found out about this distasteful little idea; he'd brought a present, a pair of brand new shoes for each and every child in the orphanage, with a special pair given specifically to Sonic. Though the fox had explained to him how they worked, Sonic had found he was unable to keep up with the techno-babble his benefactor had used. Still he had gotten the gist of it; the shoes allowed him to run at his "normal" high speeds but wouldn't wear out under the stress.

"They're mondo cool," Sonic replied, kicking his feet up in the air as if to prove to the fox he was wearing them. "Best gift I ever got. Look at this…" So saying, hedgehog feet tore over the playground, effortlessly placing Sonic opposite an empty seesaw. Now a sufficient distance away, the hedgehog revved his feet once more and almost sailed over the grass and up the seesaw, leaping from its raised side before gravity could pull it, and him, down and doing a backflip in mid air before landing only a little roughly on the ground. His trick complete, he returned to the fox's side, positively glowing as Miles clapped for him.

"Most impressive, you caught some real air there," the fox commented.

"Maybe," Sonic confessed, "but I bet that's nothing like the air you can catch." Immediately Miles started at Sonic's assumption.

"Well, yes, but I have an unfair advantage," the fox began, not wanting to overshadow the spirited boy's accomplishment. If he was detrimentally jealous, though, Sonic showed it not, instead opting to begin asking all sorts of questions relating to the fox's newly revealed talent.

"When did you learn how to fly? How high can you go up? How long can you do it? How fast do you go? Can you do tricks?"

"Whoa, whoa, one question at a time kiddo," Miles requested, his hands held up in a sign of surrender. "I've been flying since I was little, maybe a little older than you are. It took me a long time to learn, and believe me I have the lumps on my head to prove it."

"And how high... how fast?"

"Pretty high, and with gravity accelerating me…"

"And tricks, you gotta be able to do some tricks…" At this point Miles Prower stopped talking and took a step back from the hyperactive blue mammal. Orange furred hands reached up to his head and carefully set the goggles that had previously rested there to his eyes.

"Sonic, keep your eye on the foxy," Miles said as he turned from Sonic, giving his signature appendages a hard swish before they began to rotate like helicopter blades. Quickly the hedgehog covered his eyes to block the wind generated by the swirling extra vertebrae, but he still managed to watch as Miles Prower once more broke the bonds of gravity and rose from the ground. Like a furry orange shot the kitsune was off, soaring up into the sky higher and higher until he seemed only a speck in the clouds to Sonic's young eyes. Of course the sudden departure did not escape the notice of the other children whose own features gazed in astonishment at the bizarre spectacle.

Just before Sonic was sure he'd lost sight of the upwardly mobile Miles, the fox performed a U-turn, pulling into a fairly steep dive. The hedgehog's eyes, used to keeping track of objects as he moved at high speed, had little trouble keeping up with the descending vulpine, even as he began to dread that his new friend might not be able to stop in time. Rather than stop, Miles simply altered his trajectory, pulling himself parallel to the ground at a fantastic speed. Wisely did the adult choose to do so while still a good distance up as the passing of his body through the air at such speeds generated a thunderous boom that might have shattered windows, were it close enough to do so. Extending his arms, the two-tailed fox slowed himself enough to re-enter the playground, though he was still traveling fast than the children had seen anyone save their blue housemate go. Thus began a series of tricks as the fox worked to entertain the crowd that had gathered to watch him, performing loop-de-loops and somersaults while in the open air and using the playground's equipment as something of an obstacle course. Finally, the fox stopped and lowered himself to the ground, his arms and legs extended around him to allow him to hover less than an inch above the ground as he smiled up at the assembled children.

"I'm particularly proud of this little maneuver, as it lets me skim the surface of any freshly mopped floor and used to drive my Aunt wild," he said smugly as he rose at a perfect ninety degree angle to be at his feet. With his feet only a few inches from the ground, the flying fox's tails stopped spinning and he landed briskly, bowing before the assembled. Immediately the children began clapping.

"That was… that was… that was so cool!" Sonic cried as he ran up to his foxy friend.

"I bet this is even cooler," Miles proclaimed as he grabbed Sonic under the arms and lifted him up, turning him to face his many roommates. Again the two tails swished together before they began spinning and once more the fox was airborne, this time with a blue passenger in tow. Though this time he didn't rise quite as high as the clouds, Miles and Sonic did get higher than the tallest of the three trees on the playground, much to the immense enjoyment of the blue hedgehog. His head excitedly swiveled from side to side as he tried to take in the entire playground, heedless of the way his carrier's face winced each time he was poked by his sharp quills. Thankfully hedgehog quills are not like those of a porcupine, they are not barbed and do not stay stuck into what ever surface they jab. Of course Miles Prower was not about to let his own discomfort put his passenger in jeopardy and so held on tightly to prevent the world's fastest boy hedgehog from becoming the world's flattest boy hedgehog.

"Tails this is SO GREAT!!" Sonic yelled back at flyer that loomed above him. Swiftly the fox began to move forward, Sonic moving with him as they flew through the sky. Not foolish enough to attempt any taxing tricks with the young orphan's added weight, Miles was still able to rise and fall randomly as he began to lap the playground, Sonic hooting and hollering as he did so.

"MR. PROWER!!" came a voice both recognized and sharp foxy eyes scanned the playground to find a very perturbed looking female monkey staring daggers at him from the ground below, a muddy girl with blonde hair standing by her side with a smug look on her face.

"Oh boy, I think we need to land, air traffic control just showed up," Miles said as he headed for the irate woman. If Lillian Price had been staring daggers at the fox, Sonic was staring swords at her for cutting his ride short. Finally, after what could be argued to be a prolonged descent, Miles Prower landed, placing Sonic on the ground as he did so.

"What in the name of all that is decent do you think you are doing?!" Ms. Price yelled as she jabbed a finger into Miles's furry chest. "Do you have any idea how flagrantly irresponsible that was? You could have dropped him, or crashed!"

"One; I am very well aware of what I am doing, I've been flying for the vast majority of my life," Miles began. "And two; I would not have dropped him, I was holding him too tight."

"You expect me to believe that he wasn't causing you any discomfort up there? I could see how you were wincing, don't tell me you could hold him tight enough with his quills digging into you."

"He's not the easiest person I've ever had to carry," Miles admitted looking back towards Sonic with a smile, "but he's hardly the first hedgehog with prickly spines I've had either. I did this more than enough times when I was a teenager."

"Oh that explains it. You did this as a teen and you haven't yet matured enough to know it is inappropriate behavior."

"Hey, he didn't do anything wrong, I asked if he could carry me," Sonic lied, disliking how Miles was being spoken to.

"I will deal with you later Olgilvie," Ms. Price barked.

"With what?" Sonic barked back, refusing to be so easily dismissed. "I'm here, I'm good."

"You shouldn't have been up there at all," Lillian retorted. "Mr. Prower, I can not say this will help your chances for adopting. It is the height of irresponsibility to place a child in such danger and if you're willing to do that to Olgilvie now, I can only imagine what kind of trouble he'd get into as your son."

"His what?" Sonic asked quietly, not sure he'd heard the monkey correctly.

"There was zero risk involved, MS. Price. I will have you know I am certified to carry a capacity of two hundred pounds, a weight restriction Sonic easily slips under. And long before my tails would have given out I would have felt the fatigue and come in for a landing easily, a perfect three-point landing too I assure you," Miles responded, his features going dark at his adversary's rather nasty threat. "And I would thank you not to make threats of me; unless you wish to find yourself out of a job for the shabby way you seem to be making things run around here." Lillian's eyes widened. "And for the record, Ms. Price, I am every bit responsible enough to adopt a child as any investigation of my background will prove, fair or whatever kangaroo version thereof that you are now planning to pursue. I'm also a very nasty person to make angry, as you will find out if you attempt to slander me in any way to prevent me from adopting this boy."

"Adopt… me?" Sonic once again spoke, looking disbelievingly at the two tailed fox. "You… you want to adopt… me?"

"Yes Sonic that was… that IS my intention. I made my decision to today, but I wanted to ask your opinion of it before I did anything about it."

"You will never see step one!" Price yelled. "I don't know how they do it in Station Square City, but here in Green Hill we are not in the habit of allowing immature men who have yet to let go of their boyhood delusions to adopt impressionable children. Olgilvie requires a guardian capable of keeping him on the straight and narrow and preventing his inevitable descent into delinquency to consume his life."

"Now you listen to me…" Tails said through gritted teeth. "You've already proven to me that you are incapable of getting past your own misconceptions about Sonic to give him a chance, let alone an even one. I can already imagine the type of people you'd try to place him with and the thought that you'd even allow such people to have A child in the first place leads me to question your qualifications to effectively run this place for ANY of these children. Perhaps while I am being researched for my fitness to be a parent, you should be INVESTIGATED as to how you treat those who do not fall into your definition of 'the straight and narrow.'"

"You filthy little mutant," Price demanded. "How dare you threaten me! I demand you leave at once or I will have you escorted from the property!" Sonic suddenly cringed, he did not like the way this was turning out, especially if Ms. Price really was able to prevent Miles from seeing him again on a permanent basis.

"Very well I am going," Miles relented, patting Sonic once on the head as he prepared to take his leave of the distasteful woman. "But, I will be back tomorrow, I promise, and I will have my lawyer in tow as well."

"I have done nothing illegal here…"

"It won't be about you," the fox intoned. "I told you before, I want to adopt Sonic here, and that has not changed. Mr. Martin will be insurance to make sure you do not attempt to discredit me as I do." The monkey's eyes widened.

"You honestly expect this to be resolved by tomorrow."

"In addition to being a flying fox I am also a very rich fox and while I am opposed to flaunting that fact I won't hesitate to do so to protect my interests, particularly from someone I don't trust not to try to shuffle a little kid through the cracks just to keep me from adopting him." An orange hand went to the pouch hanging at the fox's hip, and for the briefest moment Lillian Price feared he was about to draw some weapon from it to harm her. This fear was allayed as instead Miles drew forth a white business card, handing the small slip of paper, not to the monkey, but to Sonic. "This is my phone number. I want you to call me tonight before bed, okay?"

"Y… yes," Sonic said as he took the card, ignoring Price's angry face.

"What… what makes you think he can simply flout my authority and contact you?"

"Because if he doesn't I shall be forced to assume he has come to some misfortune at your hands, and the I shall be the one with the police in tow during our next encounter and I promise you they will be most eager to discuss your policies concerning 'mutants.'" Having said his piece, Miles Prower once more turned his back towards Ms. Price, his twin tails swishing insolently as he trod away from the woman whose face already seemed to be turning red.

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… ::Sad Face::

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the_Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

I gotta say I'm impressed. This is actually the most reviews a story of mine has ever started out with. Sorry this took longer than the last chapter; of course this is also a longer chapter too, so I think it evens out. Also there has been some concern as to whether or not this story belongs in the angst section. While it may seem happiness is pervading throughout the pass sequences, I should point out that they are in the past, whereas the present is their conclusion. There will be angst in this story, but it's shaping up to be further along than I'd anticipated. In the meantime, enjoy Sonic getting used to his new life. 

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Present

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"Miles Prower, the Doctor is ready to see you now," the nurse said as she opened the door leading back to the examination rooms. Quickly Sonic stood up, holding his lifelong friend by the hand as he guided the somewhat reluctant fox forward, Amy following behind. The pink hedgehog's eyes cast a glance all about them at the somewhat bewildered faces of the other patients in the waiting room, obviously just a little curious as to why what appeared to be a young fox boy has been taken to what is obviously not a pediatrician's office. As Amy entered the back area, an aged wolf wearing a white lab coat and a stethoscope suddenly stepped before her, blocking her way.

"I'm sorry madam, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to wait in the waiting…" Before the wolf could finish, Sonic intervened.

"It's okay Dr. Labris," the hedgehog said. "She's a friend of ours." The wolf looked back and forth between the two hedgehogs for a moment before casting a wary, almost hesitant glance towards Tails. For a few moments both canidids looked at each other and Amy could almost swear Labris was looking towards the boy for approval. Before she could find out, however, the lupine doctor's attention was recaptured by Sonic. "Doc, you know me, I wouldn't just drag along a gawker."

"Very well Sonic," the doctor relented. "If you'll follow me this way, we'll be using examination room three today." So saying, the two hedgehogs and one fox followed Dr. Labris to the designated room, with the wolf doctor pulling forth a fairly thick looking manila folder, the name "Prower, Miles" on its tab. Sonic and Amy took a seat on the two chairs provided in the room as Tails stood at nearby. For a few minutes the wolf's attention was completely focused on the file he held, checking it for accuracy as he ticked off items. "Name; Miles Theodore Prower, age; eight years, species; red fox, sex; male…" Shortly gray eyes removed themselves from the paper to stare at the fox in question. "If you would please remove your garments and step on the scales, we can begin…" Obediently Tails complied, handing his winter gear with Sonic who quickly folded it up before moving over to the scale. Quickly Dr. Labris worked the small device, taking in both the fox's height and weight. "Forty pounds at two feet, three inches." Sonic winced at this revelation; Tails had lost a full four inches… and an additional pound for each one. Suddenly the larger Mobian lifted the young fox from the floor and gently placed him on the examination table. Carefully Labris worked, giving the young vulpine a thorough check up, examining his nose, his eyes, his ears, and his throat. Tails let loose a squeal when the doctor's cold stethoscope touched his bare chest, even with the wolf blowing a hot breath on the cold metal. Soon the fox boy found himself lying down on his back, Labris running a gentle hand over his chest and belly as he checked for any sort of anomalies.

"You've been bathing every day correct?" he asked of his youthful patient as he did a quick scan of the fur around Tails's ears and muzzle. "Keeping yourself free of fleas and mites, right?"

"Yes doctor, just like Sonic tells me to," Tails responded, growing more than a little bored with this whole exercise. For the briefest moment, Dr. Labris looked like he was unconvinced. If he had any reservations, however, he chose not to act on them, instead walking over to a small tray sitting on the sink nearby.

"Very well, then before we head downstairs for your MRI, I only need two more things, a blood and urine sample." At this Tails's head suddenly snapped towards the wolf's direction, his eyes widened at what he'd just heard.

"B…blood? You… want my blood?!" the kit gulped, his fertile mind already envisioning all sorts of ways a doctor could take such a sample from him. These visions were intensified as the doctor turned around holding an empty syringe in his hand. Immediately ever strand of fur on the kit's body stood rigid at once as he gave a short jump backwards. "Needle! No needle! NO NO NEEDLE!" the terrified boy exclaimed.

"Tails calm down," Sonic said as he went over to his young friend and placed a gentle but firm hand on his shoulder. "It's not going to hurt, you'll see."

"It's a needle and it's going to go in me, how is that not supposed to hurt?" Tails countered as he immediately skittered as far away from the wolf and his needle as the table would permit. Unfortunately, at least from the kit's position, this put him right into Sonic's arms and the hedgehog was quick to take full advantage, wrapping himself around his two-tailed companion's limbs to keep him from moving more.

"Kid, I know you don't like needles but… ah!" Sonic's words were cut off as Tails began to struggle and twist in his guardian's restraining embrace. Two limbs had a difficult time containing six, though Sonic did note that his best friend refrained from employing claws and fangs in order to get loose. Finally though, Sonic was able to hold him still long enough for Dr. Labris tie a rubber cord around his upper arm. At this time Tails began to bawl, whimper, and cry shrilly, attempting to force Sonic to release him so that he could escape and making Sonic wish he'd been born with an extra set of hands rather than blue quills so he could cover his ears. Amy watched the whole scene with a slight amusement of her own, quietly remembering some of her own check-ups with a doctor, and her brother's less than stoic behavior in the face of the dreaded needle.

So busily was Tails carrying on and struggling that he did not notice it as the ultra-sharp tip of the needle finally penetrated the skin of his wrist, Dr. Labris's aim proving true enough to easily puncture a sub-dermal blood vessel. Slowly the clear tubing of the syringe began to fill with a red, viscous liquid, the sight of which made Sonic feel just a little ill as he held his whimpering teammate. It took less than five seconds before the doctor had all the blood he needed and pulled the sharp point free from the child, though to Tails it no doubt felt like an eternity.

"There, all done," the lupine physician announced as he removed the actual needle from the syringe and capped the vial that now held the fox's blood. Carefully he placed the liquid onto a rack before tossing the needle into the hazardous waste disposal bag. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" The streaks of tears that still showed under the young Prower's eyes told the doctor that he wasn't about to sway the kid. Inwardly the wolf thanked his lucky stars that he had no other underage patients. Miles Prower was a special case and he was only willing to put up with the headache of treating him for that reason. Quickly Labris grabbed a specimen cup and held it up for the trio to see. "I assume you remember what you have to do with this?" More than a little embarrassed over the spectacle he'd made of himself, Tails disentangled himself from Sonic's now compliant arms and nodded, wiping his face clean as he did so. "Very well, there is a bathroom to your left three doors down the hall. Once you've finished simply come back here and give me the cup." The fox took said receptacle in his hand and somberly made his way out of the room, casting a single glance for reassurance back at Sonic.

"'T's okay, kiddo, we'll just be talking to the doc," Sonic said, smiling at the boy as he closed the door. Once Tails was safely gone, the smile dropped from Sonic's face as he turned towards the wolf. "I'm sorry about that, Doc, I didn't think he'd flip out that bad."

"He's just a child, Sonic, and I really don't expect a much different level of behavior where needles are concerned," Labris said calmly. "This is why I never got into pediatric medicine."

"So what's the verdict?" Sonic asked.

"He's gotten physically smaller and lighter since last time I've seen him. I can't say anything definite until I've run some tests on his samples, but he does seem perfectly healthy… for an eight year old fox." Again Sonic's face became downcast at Labris's words. "I'm sorry, but if you were expecting something different then I'm afraid you were doomed to failure." Amy placed a comforting arm on Sonic's shoulder, and for once the blue hedgehog did not recoil when she did.

"I'm guessing there's been no headway made, has there?"

"Miles's condition is a rarity. In all the world there have probably only been fewer than five hundred people who have ever contracted it in recorded history, and I don't know of any others still alive. We've gone as far as medical science can go to find the cure, at least as we currently know."

"So what, you're just going to stop looking?" Sonic asked, getting angry, though he worked to keep his voice from rising in volume. "Have I been wasting my money relying on you, trusting you for all these years?"

"Sonic…" Amy began.

"Stay out of this," Sonic commanded. "We've been paying you for years to help us find a cure, and now you say it's impossible." Labris looked at the hedgehog with the eyes of one who had expected this reaction, his body stiff and rigid as he took in Sonic's accusations.

"I never said a cure was impossible, simply that it wasn't probable at this time," the wolf defended.

"And when will it be probable? In a decade, maybe eight years and a day?" Sonic asked in a hiss. "Tails doesn't have that long."

"I know!" Labris barked. "I know. We are doing everything we can with what we have but technology goes only so far. I would suggest that whatever happens, you try to make the best of the time he does have left… especially before he can no longer enjoy it himself." Suddenly, a faint knocking was heard at the door as it slowly opened.

"I'm done," Tails said as he offered up the specimen cup. Gingerly the wolf took it and placed it on the tray next to the blood sample. "Why were you yelling? Did Sonic do something wrong?" the kit asked, proving that, if he hadn't been listening at the door, he'd at least heard Dr. Labris lose his temper. For the briefest moment the lupine doctor stared at the fox, almost convinced he saw some level of parental annoyance as he spoke.

"I was kinda bugging him, kiddo," Sonic finally said. "What do you say we head on down and finish this whole check up thing, huh, then you can get that hot chocolate?" Whatever parental look the fox's face had held was obliterated at the mention of sweets, much to Labris's disquiet.

"Very well," he said, his voice containing just a hint of dejection as he spoke, though it was apparent only to the two older Mobians. "If you will follow me, we can head downstairs." So saying the procession left examination room three.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Past: 14 years ago

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Whoa," Sonic said as he stepped out of the taxi cab and looked at the building that stood before him. Beside him the first of three black bags was placed gently on the ground by the driver as the pint sized hedgehog simply craned his neck upward to take in the majesty of what was the tallest building in all of Station Square City; the Sky Top Towers. "This is your house?" Sonic asked incredulously of his companion as the two tailed fox paid the driver before turning to the latest addition to his family.

"In a sense," Miles admitted. "I own the top floor, not the whole place. But this is where I live."

"And… And I get to live there too?" the hedgehog asked, turning his head back towards the fox as he picked up two of the bags.

"Well it is something of a tradition for children to live with their parents, kiddo, even adopted children," Miles said with a laugh as he walked forward, Sonic walking a little unsteadily behind him, clutching the smallest of his luggage. The vulpine had mentioned he was rich, but Sonic hadn't really anticipated just how rich. He'd gotten something of a hint when, after all the papers had been signed and the fees had been paid, his new father had taken him to the nearby airfield and, rather than purchase a ticket for a plane, had actually walked into the private hangars. The hedgehog could still remember the excitement he felt as he watched the workers pull out a brilliant red plane with the word "Tornado IV" written on it, proclaiming it to be fueled, checked, and ready to go. He'd been even more excited as he was helped into the passenger seat and watched as Miles got into the pilot's one.

As they approached the entry to the tower, a man wearing a red coat with large gold buttons suddenly appeared in their way, taking the handle and opening the door for them.

"Mr. Prower, it's good to see you've returned safely," he said in a polite tone, bowing slightly as the fox passed him. It was something of a surprise to Sonic to hear his new guardian being treated with such deference. As an adult, Miles was of course entitled to some degree of respect where others were concerned, especially when he was actively paying for a service, but this went beyond the call. Back at the hanger, the workers had actually spoken to the fox with a kind of reverence, as if he was someone special, at least in their minds, and now this gentleman held the same sort of veneration in his voice.

"Thank you George, it was an uneventful flight," the vulpine acknowledged back. "Oh yes, this is Sonic, my new son." The human's gaze cast downward to examine the much shorter hedgehog that stood before him, more than a little intimidated by this man's size.

"I see; then I suppose I shall have to begin referring to you as YOUNG Mr. Prower," George said with a smile, using his free hand to carefully pat the boy on the head in a friendly gesture.

"Sonic will do," the hedgehog said, getting back some of his old bravado. "You can call me Sonic mister."

"Mister is what they call my old man," George intoned. "I'll call you Sonic, and you just refer to me as George. It's a pleasure to meet you Sonic." So saying the human held out a hand to shake. Putting his luggage down, Sonic extended his own hand with a smile.

"Sonic, the elevator's here," Miles called as the aforementioned machine's doors opened beside the fox. Realizing he had to hurry up, Sonic nodded a good-bye to his new acquaintance, grabbed his bag, and zipped over to the elevator before it was fully opened. Quickly the two got themselves situated in the small space before Miles pressed the topmost button, causing it to light up. A few seconds later the doors began to close.

"Wait, wait, hold the elevator please!" called a feminine voice, causing Miles to thrust an arm forward to halt the doors' closure. Inside stepped a large woman wearing a pink dress, a pink jacket, and a feather boa about her shoulders. On her head, atop her gray hair, was a large pink hat with a single faux peacock's feather sticking out of its top. "Oh thank you, thank you, dear boy, I was afraid I would miss this car and have to wait for the next one," she said as she panted from having to make her bulk move quickly enough to catch up, an arm held to her chest. Suddenly her blue eyes focused on who she was sharing the car with and her flushed face brightened up with delight. "Miles! Oh dear boy you've finally returned!" Her tired state, and the cramped quarters she'd found herself in, proved to be no deterrent for the woman wrap her massive arms around the cornered fox and give him a bone crunching hug.

"Mrs. Axelby," Miles managed to wheeze as the air was driven from his lungs. "When did you come back?" Sonic smiled as he watched the scene, as his new father's eyes bugged out of his head for a moment.

"Oh, only a few days ago, dearheart. I tell you it was the worst cruise I have ever been on," Mrs. Axelby said as she released the fox, and her arms went to feigning distress. "The food was repugnant, the entertainment dull and wearisome… I considered jumping ship when we reached port in Soleanna simply to have something exciting happe…" It was at this point that the theatrical lady noticed the elevator car's third occupant staring up at her. Reaching into her pocked she pulled out a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and delicately put them before her eyes. "And who might you be, darling?" she asked in a sweet voice as she bent over as much as she could to get a better look.

"This is my new son, Mrs. Axelby, Sonic," Miles explained, causing the woman to cast a quick glance at the fox in shock.

"Miles, my dear, I realize I have been away for a while but what have YOU been up to?" she asked with a voice indicative of someone who had been left out of what they were sure was an interesting story. "When I left you were only thinking about adopting a child, still looking into orphanages and whatnot. And now you've come home with a strapping young lad in tow?" Miles smiled as he gave the watered down version of what he'd been up too, Sonic quiet for the most part though feeling the need to explain some of his behavior when it came to him. So engrossed in the story were they that when the chime went off indicating they'd reached the floor Mrs. Axelby had wanted, she'd simply stuck a meaty leg out the door to keep it still. When the story was done, Mrs. Axelby clapped her hands. "Well then, you simply must let me throw you a welcome to be building party, eh, Sonic? Correct?" Sonic nodded, a motion the woman took to be assent for her party. "Oh simply marvelous. We will do the whole motif in blue in celebration of our newest tenant. Sam will be absolutely giddy to meet a naturally blue hedgehog.

"Who's he?" Sonic asked, not really interested in meeting someone who might decide to make sport of him for being different, particularly if he was going to be living here. The last thing he needed was a repeat of Green Hill.

"Sam is short for Samantha," Mrs. Axelby corrected with a short laugh. "She's my grandDAUGHTER you see, and she adores the color blue, keeps dying her hair that way. I'm sure she'll simply have a fit when she sees you. Toodles!" So saying the eccentric human took her leave and allowed the elevator to continue its ascent.

"Friend of yours?" Sonic asked in a semi-snide voice.

"Mrs. Axelby is the building's busybody and welcoming committee all rolled up into one person," Miles explained, "but she's good people, and I like her."

"So, 's she really gonna throw me a party?"

"Yes, which means we'll have to get you something to wear to fit the occasion," Miles said. A ding was heard. "Ah, we're here." The doors opened revealing another small corridor that ended in a wooden door. Carrying the bags over, Miles reached into the pouch at his side, pulling forth a set of keys. "I'll have to remember to get a set of these made for you so you can get in if I'm not around." With a turn of the knob, the door was opened and Sonic could see inside. Inside was a entryway leading to a living room decorated with two couches and an armchair all situated around a coffee table before which sat a fairly big television. Behind the largest couch sat a long desk on which say a phone. On a raised platform nearby sat a long skinny table on which sat a stereo system flanked by two CD cases, and all around the room were various plants, mostly ferns and other non-flowing forms of plant life. A glass dinning table stood near the kitchen, four chairs surrounding it and what looked like a large curtain covering the entire wall behind it. A small bar area sat next to the kitchen door, offering a view of the counters inside as well as the silvery refrigerator. Two hallways branched off from the living room in opposite direction, darkened thanks to the fact that no lights were on to illuminate their way. The walls were clean, save for the pictures of various airplanes and skyscapes that decorated them.

Very carefully Sonic stepped in, his head moving around from side to side as he took in the entirety of the apartment.

"Kinda small, isn't it?" he asked. For a guy rich enough to own and maintain his own plane, and to receive so much admiration from those around him, Sonic had half expected Miles's home to be something of a marble palace, like those he often saw the cartoon emperors living in in his favorite cartoons.

"Well, you have to remember this wasn't originally here when the building started out," Miles explained. "I had it built when I decided to live here." So saying the fox entered his home, a relieved smile escaping his lips as he took in the cool air.

"Why would you want to?" Sonic asked. He knew there were nicer apartments, there had to be ones in a building like this. In answer to his son's question, the fox walked over to the drawn curtain next to the dining table and pulled it back.

"Well for one, it makes for a fantastic view," he said. Behind the curtain was a massive window that took up most of the wall and even had a sliding glass door built into it. Outside, the view was indeed resplendent. The entire city of Station Square stood before them, or rather beneath them, the smaller buildings shining in the light of the setting sun and looking for all the world to be towers of black water spouting forth from the earth. The streets looked much as they would on a city map, a collection of grids, here decorated with tiny toy cars. The people were like especially swift bugs, their movements occasionally erratic as they interacted with each other but ultimately predictable given their somewhat limited options of mobility.

As Sonic gazed outward, he could see the forests of the Mystic Ruins, and even the White Jungle beyond that. His vision was only blocked by his own eyes inability to differentiate shapes after a certain distance, but he could still make out the distant mountains. It was as though the whole world lay open before him and, as someone who had long fantasized about using his fantastic speed to see it all, he could almost touch that long distant memory of unbridled freedom that was an integral part of all intelligent beings, an echo from a past before they were chained and stunted to impassable cities that stymied such freedom. Faced with this feeling, however fleeting it may have been tied to this the image given by this window; Sonic couldn't help but sum up his feelings as best he knew how.

"Wow."

"It was long my dream to live amongst the clouds, far away from the ground I've never been truly comfortable with," Miles said as he gazed at his new charge. "When I found this place I knew I had to make it mine. I'm almost positive I would have made a new apartment above this one just to be able to go even higher, but I'm fairly positive that would have just led to a never ending cycle." Suddenly the fox once more closed the curtain, as if unwilling to allow himself to be mesmerized by the treasure he'd prized so much. "Well, I'm sure you're tired after such an eventful day. What say I show you where you can put your things and we take some time to relax before dinner?"

"Sure," the hedgehog responded as he was suddenly led down one of the hallways, a turned on light serving to dispel the darkness. Two doors stood to the sides of the corridor, with a third standing at its end. Of these, the middle one was closed and Sonic was told that this was merely a closet used to hold clean bed linens. The door at the end of the hallway turned out to be Miles's room, an expansive thing equipped with its own attached full bathroom. Sonic was quite surprised he was allowed to enter this chamber, in his experience most adults were not overly thrilled with having children in what they considered their private living space, though those same adults had little problem barging in on the children's. The room was dominated by a massive king sized bed behind which was another window, though this one smaller than the one that dominated the living room and possessing blinds instead of curtains. Two nightstands flanked the bed, one of which held a digital alarm clock while the other had a coaster, obviously for a midnight drink. A dresser could be seen on which sat a picture of a trio of foxes, one young and the other two older, obviously Miles and his parents. A second picture depicted a somewhat younger looking Miles in his cap and gown, clutching to his chest a rolled up piece of paper as he smiled at the camera. It was to the first room, however, that Sonic was eventually led, as this was to serve as his bedroom. Compared to the other chambers the hedgehog had seen, this one seemed severely under-decorated, possessing only a twin sized bed and a dresser, with no ornamentation whatsoever.

"I wasn't entirely sure where your tastes in décor lay, so I left this room blank when I remodeled in preparation for your arrival," Miles explained, catching the somewhat disappointed look that crossed his son's face. "Tomorrow we can go get you some stuff to make this homier."

"Cool," Sonic stated as he tossed his bag to the floor near the bed, an action Miles followed with the remaining luggage, albeit much gentler. "So... I don't suppose dinner's good to go, huh?"

"Well that depends, do you want to go out to eat or see what I can scrounge up here?" The blue hedgehog thought about the question for a few minutes before deciding he'd had enough travel for one day. If he was home, he might as well stay for a while and get used to it. Heading back into the living room, Sonic plopped down on the couch as Miles's two bushy tails disappeared into the kitchen. Almost without missing a beat the vulpine shouted, "Shoes off the couch please." Somewhat startled that he'd been made so fast, especially since he had not seen the fox's eyes catch a glimpse of him, Sonic only semi-sullenly pulled his special shoes from his feet, depositing them on the floor.

"Mind if I turn on the television?" he asked as he spotted the remote sitting on the coffee table, a slender little thing with more buttons on it than the hedgehog could reasonably count.

"All right by me," Miles answered. "What do you want for dinner?"

"What do you have?" Sonic replied back as he started at channel two and began to work his way up.

"Let's see… cereal, sandwich meat, pickles, hotdogs, green onions, fruit, chips… that Lo Mein from two weeks ago… chili, eggs, sou…" The fox never got to finish his list as he suddenly felt a presence standing right next to him. Sonic had dropped the remote and leapt to his feet, covering the distance between the couch and his father in less than the space of a heartbeat.

"Dude, somewhere in there I heard chili and hotdogs, right?"

"Uh, yeah I think so…" At this Sonic got a gleeful look in his large eyes as he clasped his hands before him and licked his lips.

"You wouldn't happen to have any hotdog buns in this kitchen, would ya?" Hope almost cascaded from the six year old as he spoke, and Heaven itself might have found it difficult to deny the blue boy's desire for a yes. Fortunately Heaven didn't need to concern itself this time as Miles pulled forth a full package of hotdog buns from the pantry. A squeal of purest delight escaped the hedgehog's lips as he almost seemed to bounce around in one place at this revelation.

"I take it you've decided on something you want?" Miles asked, fully knowing the answer. Still it seemed like his new son would burst if he weren't allowed to speak his mind.

"Chilidogs, chilidogs, mounds and mounds of CHILIDOGS!"

"Okay, okay, just calm down," Miles said with a smile. "You keep jumping around like that this high up and you're liable to end up in orbit. You don't mind the chili's from a can do you?" Sonic shook his head.

"At this point I wouldn't mind if the buns were green or the hotdogs gray!" he exclaimed happily, to which his foxy father stuck out a tongue in distaste.

"You might not but I would," he remarked as he opened the can of chili and poured its chunky contents into a pot, placing said pot on the oven's burner. "So how many can you eat?"

"Ten… twenty… thirty… a million!" Sonic responded, once more dancing on his toes. Once more Miles gave the odd little hedgehog a look that remarked how crazy he looked.

"I think we'll start out with three for you and see if you can handle that," he finally said, drawing out five of the cylinders of meat. "And even then I think we may be pushing it. Chilidogs aren't exactly the most nutritious of food." At Miles's words, Sonic immediately looked heartbroken.

"But… but they're so good, so wonderful," he began to argue. "Each bite full of spicy delicious goodness, each touch so packed with gooey sweetness…"

"This is more than a favorite food to you, isn't it?"

"Are you kidding? Have you never had chilidogs Tails?" Sonic asked disbelieving. "They're practically love made real…" As he spoke, the blue hedgehog hugged himself, his body almost seeming to float off the ground a few centimeters.

"You need to meet the Great Dane I know; you and he would hit it off like nobody's business." So saying, Miles returned to cooking the chili, stirring the meaty concoction with a wooden spoon as he added a few spices to it. Satisfied that his dinner was going to be taken care of, Sonic retired from the kitchen, returning to the couch to resume flipping through the channels on the fox's television. When nothing presented itself immediately, the blue boy's easily distracted mind began to wander, as did his eyes, eventually landing on the phone that rested above him. A red blinking light on the plastic device indicated its answering machine function had recently been put to use.

"Hey Tails," Sonic called. "You've got some messages on your machine."

"I'll take care of them later."

"Why not now? Is there something on here you don't want me to listen too?" Sonic asked cheekily. A foxy face appeared over the bar next to the kitchen, staring at the hedgehog.

"Not that I know of," Miles said after a moment's consideration. "Hit the blue button." Quickly Sonic did as he was instructed.

"Message One:" spoke a monotonous and mechanical voice.

_"Yo, Miles, it's Rob Labris. Wanted to let you know Lisa and I just got back into town,"_ said a gruff male voice.

_"Hi Miles,"_ cried a feminine voice.

"_You hear that, Milesy, the new Mrs. Labris says 'hi.' Better watch yourself Foxboy or I might get jealous. Wanted to thank you for the honeymoon as soon as we could, excellent wedding gift my friend, just excellent. Call me when you can, we got a lot to tell you about. Ciao!"_

"Milesy? Foxboy?" Sonic inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"Robert's an old friend, I was the best man at his wedding a few weeks ago," Miles explained. "And he is the only one who ever calls me 'Milesy.'" This last part was seemed more a commandment than a simple statement of fact where the fox was concerned. Given that his own name was Olgilvie, Sonic supposed he could respect his guardian's distaste for this new nickname.

"Message Two:"

_"Mr. Prower it's Dr. Barrows. I have the test results you requested and you were right, the third power coupling is inadequate and when the fourth engages to compensate, it overheats and malfunctions from the strain. Remind me never to doubt your ears again. I'll have the full report ready for you on Monday, as well as viable alternatives for three's replacement."_

"Huh?"

"Business. Do you like onions in your chili?"

"What kind?"

"Green."

"'Kay."

"Message Three:"

_"You stinkin' runty little runty fox freak! If you think I'm gonna let you get away with stealing that contract, you're in for the fight of your life. I don't know what kind of cheap trick you pulled to show off to those pinheads at G.U.N. but mark my words this isn't over!"_

"Always nice to hear from Jonathan," Miles said in a somewhat flat voice that denoted exactly what he felt for the person who'd left that call.

"Message four:"

_"Miiiiles,"_ as seductively sultry voice cooed as it issued forth from the machine. Immediately it had Sonic's full attention, even as the fox being beckoned stuck his head out from the kitchen, a look in his eyes reminiscent of a feral deer caught in an automobile's headlights. "_You've been a very bad boy, Miles, not calling me for almost a month, and after we had such a good time at Twinkle Park too. A girl could almost think you're avoiding… beep "_

The message never got to finish as Miles practically pounced on the delete button.

"Who was that?" Sonic asked innocently. Miles favored the hedgehog with an annoyed expression as he grinned widely up at the fox.

"Never you mind…" he said as he returned to the kitchen, already wondering whether or not he should change his phone number.

"Message five:"

_"Mr. Prower, this is Michael Cervid calling with regards to today's activities since you apparently did not see fit to leave a flight itinerary handy."_ At the sound of the voice, Miles gave a pained expression to the sky and Sonic could almost swear the vulpine had sworn softly under his breath, thus leading his son to conclude that this speaker was someone fairly important, a boss maybe. "_I really cannot tell you adequately how troublesome it is to be unable to reach you when I need to. While I understand you were doing something you felt to be extremely important, I would like to point out that you do have responsibilities that must be fulfilled. Fortunately today held no urgent surprises and I choose to take the path of 'no harm, no foul…' for now. I shall see you tomorrow, good night."_

"Well that's gonna be a lecture," Miles said dejectedly as he brought in a large plate with the five chilidogs on them.

"Does this mean we're not gonna be able to hang out tomorrow?" Sonic asked as he grabbed a dog and began to eat. He was not looking forward to spending the day all by himself in a strange city, no matter how cool the view was.

"Of course not," Miles responded. "I cleared the whole week to make sure you got settled in properly. It's just Michael's job to be an anchor around my neck when I'm having too much fun."

"What happens in a week?" the hedgehog asked as he reached for his second helping. "I mean, I got nothing planned." Miles chuckled a little.

"Oh dear Sonic," he started. "You may not have had anything planned, but I'm afraid the government has something planned for you."

"Really?"

"Yes. You see, I have to prove I'm a responsible guardian for you, and to do that I have to make sure you're where all children need to be in a week."

"Where?" Sonic asked, already envisioning top secret military installations, covert assignments, and other things the government of Station Square might need him for.

"School."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The sun shined through the cracks in the blinds that covered the window that overlooked Sonic's sleeping head. For a few minutes, the hedgehog grunted, disliking the intense light striking his closed eyelids. Even as he started to rouse from sleep, he could tell something was up. The alarm clock had not rung, no doubt turned off during the night by Taylor so the young mink could get his "beauty sleep" as he often liked to put it. Ms. Price would most likely scold them both for being so late to get up, a scenario Sonic really didn't appreciate. Grumpily Sonic tore his pillow out from under his head and threw it backwards, into the space he knew Taylor's bed, and thus his body to be. The satisfying sounds of a distressed mink failed to come to pointed hedgehog ears, however, and Sonic's eyes cracked open slightly as he turned to investigate.

Taylor was gone. Not just him, but his bed, his nightstand, and even his annoying little radio he always had tuned to a country music station. Sonic was thoroughly alone as in a room that, to his sleepy eyes, looked nothing like the room he'd occupied for so long at Green Hill Orphanage. Confusion reigned in the hedgehog's mind as he shook his head wildly, hoping to banish that last vestiges of sleep from his groggy brain and get the chemical juices flowing again. This proved to do the trick as memories of what he'd been through the past few days returned to him. Images of Miles formally adopting him, legally becoming his father, the tearful goodbye he'd given to his armadillo friend as he'd collected his possessions from the orphanage, the scowl Ms. Price's disapproving look as Miles led him to a taxi cab… And the excitement he'd felt as he'd been flown all the way to the city where he was to live.

"So I guess this really happened," Sonic said to himself. After dinner the night before, Miles had given him a final tour of the apartment and then they'd both settled down with some popcorn in front of the television. His father had been able to find some old war movie about a squadron of pilots fighting to liberate an island all done in black and white. Though Sonic had only been mildly interested, the fox had paid rapt attention to the film, particularly the aerial battles, on which he commented to his new son about everything, from the way the planes flew to what tricks they were attempting to pull off. Unfortunately the hedgehog's young age, combined with the eventfulness of the day and his full belly, forced Sonic into slumber before the movie reached its inevitable conclusion, and thus had he lost the chance to see what the city looked like from this height at night. Hazy memories of gentle hands carefully removing his socks and glove and helping him into the red pajamas he currently wore returned to him, as did the notion that he'd immediately fallen asleep once his head had been allowed to hit his pillow again.

Quietly did the hedgehog remove the covers that sat upon him, crawling from his bed and getting to the floor in a tiptoe fashion, hoping not to alert anyone to the fact that he was indeed awake. Carefully he opened his bedroom door and looked to the left down the hallway. The door was closed and the lights were not on, a good indicator that the fox was still asleep. Quietly the young mammal tiptoed over to the door and put his ear to it, just barely able to make out the sound of light snoring. A mischievous smile came to the speedster's face as he cast a glance back down the hallway, into the living room, and down the second hallway. After dinner Miles had given him the rest of the tour of his apartment, showing him the second bathroom which was to be his as well as a storage room. He'd also shown the youth a third room, this one sitting at the far end much as the fox's own bedroom did down this corridor. Miles had proclaimed this room his study, a private area that Sonic was not permitted to be in unless emergency required it, ostensibly because this was where the vulpine pilot had sequestered his more breakable possessions, as well as items he was not particularly interested in Sonic seeing just yet. Always a despiser of secrets, though mostly just those he wasn't in the loop about, the blue hedgehog fully planned to at least take a peek into the mysterious study that was apparently forbidden territory while its owner was still in La-La land. Once more tiptoeing, a difficulty for someone who would've much preferred to go much faster, Sonic made his way back to the living room, where his plans of subterfuge were promptly derailed by the new person sitting at the dining table and reading the day's newspaper.

At first Sonic considered this might be Miles. He'd seen a small CD player sitting in the bedroom, and the hedgehog supposed it was not impossible for someone to have a recording of snores to help them go to sleep. This notion was dispelled, however, as he caught a glimpse of the giant antlers sticking out from either side of the erect paper. Even more alarming was the thick, muscular arm and hand that reached out from behind the paper to take the handle of a steaming cup of coffee. The soft sound of slurping could be heard for a few seconds before the cup was returned, and a deep sounding "hrmph" signaled the clearing of a throat.

For the briefest of moments, as he stared at this stranger in his new home, Sonic considered going into Miles's room and waking the fox to deal with the intruder. Childish pride got the better of him, however, as he slowly inched his way forward into the living room, working up the nerve to confront this person in place of his father. He was no more than three feet away from the table when he suddenly froze, his eyes finally registering the somewhat comical size difference between himself and the stranger. Though his feet were indeed fast, his mind didn't change gears so well when it was forced to reconsider the actions it had previously decided on. As he tried to plan out what his next action was going to be, the blue hedgehog suddenly found the decision taken out of his hands.

"Well," a deep voice emanated from behind the paper, though it still somehow managed to remain fairly quiet, "are you going to sit down or simply continue staring at me with your mouth hanging open like a fish that has been caught out of water?" If his stomach were empty, Sonic might have felt the butterflies fluttering through his stomach as he realized the stranger was addressing him. Licking his suddenly dry lips, the hedgehog willed himself to be brave.

"You… You don't belong here," he said in his most defiant voice, the one he often used with other children who had displeased him in some way. "You're… you're trespassing."

"Is that so?" the voice once again asked, never even bothering to lower the paper to look at its accuser.

"Yes…" Sonic said, more than a little irked that he was being written off as nothing of concern by this interloper. "And if you don't get out of here I'll… I'll…" Sonic thought for a moment, trying to come up with something sufficiently impressive enough to move this mountainous creature. "I'll bounce your butt off the roof, got it."

"I see," the thoroughly unimpressed voice responded. Without the slightest ruffling of the paper, the newspaper was closed, folded, and placed neatly down on the table right by the cup of coffee. The voice, as it turned out, belonged to a male deer with a huge rack of antlers on his head, so big Sonic was somewhat mystified as to how this Mobian had managed to get into the apartment without damaging the doorframe. Massive broad shoulders and a barrel chest were covered by a gray suit that looked impeccable, much as the rest of the deer was. Not a hair, not a strand of fur, not even so much as a speck of dust was out of place on the fellow as he stared impassively at Sonic who suddenly felt so much smaller than he was. Gently the deer took hold of the coffee cup between a thumb and finger, taking another sip from it as he regarded the hedgehog for a moment before speaking. "At this juncture in our 'blossoming' relationship, I do feel it is imperative that I make a few points."

"Huh?" Sonic asked, none too sure what this intruder was talking about, especially since he didn't know what the words "juncture" and "imperative" meant. The deer stood from his seat, rising to his full height and Sonic realized that this Mobian was easily five times his size. The deer gazed down at the frightened hedgehog, ignoring his comment but making no more overly aggressive moves towards him, and continued in his deep but neutral voice.

"Point One: I am not an intruder, as I possess a key to this domicile, given to me by Mr. Prower himself in order to facilitate our relationship. To you I am merely a stranger, and I should point out that it is not often wise for children to speak to strangers without a familiar adult present. Point Two: it is also most unwise to make vulgar threats to someone else, particularly if you aren't familiar with that someone else and they may take it as incentive to visit your suggestion upon your own person." At this Sonic backed a step away, unwilling to allow the deer the chance to grab him now. Once more his movement was ignored. "Point Three: I doubt very much, Olgilvie, that Mr. Prower would approve of whatever devilment you were planning that required you check his door the way you did to make sure he was safely asleep." The hedgehog blinked, unsure of how this deer had learned his real name. Having made his point, the hoofed Mobian once more sat down.

"Who are you?" Sonic asked.

"Ah, the crux of the matter," the deer said as he place both giant hands on the table in front of him. "My name is Michael Cervid, an associate of your adoptive father's. You may refer to me as Mr. Cervid." This last part was said in no uncertain terms, but it lacked the contemptuous venom most adults tended to use with children when they insisted on the use of their title. Sonic remembered this name from the previous night, and now he could place the deep voice as it rose from the answering machine.

"You're the guy who called here yesterday…"

"It heartens me to know that Mr. Prower did receive my message, though I have to wonder why he deigned not call me back as I requested."

"Are… are you going to fire him?" Sonic asked; a question that finally succeeded in eliciting a reaction from his stony faced companion, though Sonic was somewhat surprised to see the reaction was confusion.

"Excuse me?" the deer asked.

"You're his boss, aren't you? Isn't that what bosses do when you don't do what they say?" At this the deer suddenly smiled and let out a short chortle, though he quickly regained control of himself.

"I am afraid you are laboring under a misconception, my good sir," he explained. "I am not Miles Prower's employer, HE is mine."

"What?"

"Dear boy, I am curious, are you perhaps ignorant of how your esteemed father makes his living in the world?"

"He's a pilot, isn't he?" Sonic asked. "I mean he owns a plane and flies…"

"Ah assumption, where would flights of fancy be without it," Mr. Cervid stated more than asked. "Miles Prower is the founder, owner, and Chief Executive Officer of the research and development company Prower Aerodynamic, the premier firm on the planet in the field of Aeronautics." Again Sonic didn't follow some of the bigger words the deer used, but he knew enough to know you didn't get your last name on a company unless you were a real big shot yourself. Consciously he cast a glance back at the door leading to Miles's bedroom, more than a little bewildered that the fox had not deemed it important to mention this little fact. If Sonic had a company named after him, he would have crowed it loudly every day for the rest of his life. Suddenly a new question popped into the hedgehog's mind, and he turned back towards the deer.

"So what do you do for the company?" A single eyebrow raised on Mr. Cervid's face as he considered the forwardness of this question.

"My role is that of Personal Assistant to Mr. Prower. It is my task to ensure that all the mundane events of his life have been taken care of to the point that he may focus on more important problems such as making sure his company remains at the forefront of his chosen field."

"So you like his momma, only for business?" Sonic asked, and thus did he receive the second reaction from Mr. Cervid, one that effectively told Sonic he had now been labeled "weird" in the mind of the great deer.

"A crude simile, I suppose, but a sufficient one for the terms of this conversation." Once more the paper was lifted and unfolding, again silently and without so much as a ruffle of flittering paper. "Now than, I propose we behave like good little children and behave ourselves until the master of the house has awakened." So saying, Michael Cervid began to read the paper once more, as he did every day as he waited patiently for his employer to wake up and greet the day. The soothing silence of this morning, however, lasted not but a minute before its untimely demise.

"I'm hungry," Sonic stated, as though it was the most important fact ever uttered by the hedgehog and one absolutely everyone should know. From behind the paper, Mr. Cervid answered.

"I sympathize, and suggest you get something to eat." Sonic looked at the paper that obscured his view of the deer, curious to know if this was said in jest or in seriousness. When no chortle came, the hedgehog decided that if he was going to get fed, he needed to act.

"Couldn't you…?"

"Couldn't I what?" the deer responded, again never putting down his paper.

"Well, you're supposed to be Tails's assistant… and I bet it would 'assist' him big time if he didn't have to feed me." This time a chortle came.

"I'm afraid that once more you have suffered under a misconception, Olgilvie." Sonic rankled at the use of his real name. "I am a personal assistant, not a butler, and am only expected to perform tasks as they relate to the company. While I have no doubt it would indeed be an assistance to feed you since Mr. Prower is asleep, I'm afraid it does not fall under my responsibility." Once more the six-year old had difficulty following the deer's speech, but he could still tell a "no" when he heard one. Anxiously he looked back at this father's door. There was no telling when the fox usually awoke and Sonic getting up this early was an aberration in itself; and while he could go into the master bedroom and not allow sleeping dogs to lie, it rankled his ego that he would appear, at the age of six, to be incapable of handling so simple a task as feeding himself. Independence was something he preferred to showcase, but the sad truth was that he hadn't watched his newfound father as he'd pulled down dishes for last night's repast and thus knew not in which cupboards he would find dishware or anything for that matter. Finally Sonic decided it was time to pull out all the weapons at his disposal and hopefully get this stony faced cervidae to "assist" him.

"Look, I don't know where anything is…" he said. "And do you really want me climbing all over the counters in there, slamming cupboards while Tails is trying to sleep?" At this the stiff paper suddenly seemed to lose some of its starch, its corners folding down slightly as the grip on it slackened just a little. "Please won't you make me some breakfast?" Sonic again asked, using his most pathetic and innocent sounding voice, the very voice that sometimes worked on Ms. Price when he'd tried to convince her to give him extra dessert. For a few brief moments he wondered if Cervid had heard him, only to watch as the paper was once again silently closed and folded and placed next to the coffee cup.

"Very well, I believe I can make an exception this once," the deer said as he got up and strode purposefully back to the kitchen. Convinced he was going to get fed now, Sonic scooted himself into the chair opposite the one Cervid had occupied. The light click of a door being opened came to hedgehog ears as the deer opened the pantry and looked inside, grabbing two boxes of cereal as he did so. "Fruited Loopies and Chocolate Ricer," he read from the fronts, rolling his eyes in disgust as he did so. "Ah for the days when breakfast entailed more than a trip to the candy store. Is there a preference here?"

"Never had 'em," Sonic answered, squinting to read the boxes. "What do you think of them?

"I think they are merely a few chemicals away from losing the consideration of being edible."

"Well, I guess I'll take the Chocolate Ricer then."

"Marvelous," Cervid droned as he went to a cabinet and pulled forth a bowl. Very shortly a bowl of cereal, whose white milk was rapidly turning a dark shade of brown, plus a glass of cranberry juice were set before Sonic for his consumption. Having filled the six-year-old's request, Cervid once more sat in his chair and propped up the paper he'd been perusing. This time the silence, minus the contented munching of the hedgehog across from him, lasted about ten minutes before a sudden thud was heard. Sonic looked behind him while his horned companion simply folded the paper once again and placed it on the table, this time placing his hands over it as he waited.

The door to Miles Prower's bedroom opened and the fox exited, clad in a light blue bathrobe and nothing else. Two years ago Sonic had disobeyed Ms. Price's orders to go to bed and snuck downstairs to watch the older kids as they watched a zombie movie marathon. It had been his luck to catch sight of the television just as the movie had displayed a close up of a particularly decayed and hideous zombie as it gave a roar. Remembering that image, Sonic decided that Miles could have given the zombie pointers on how to look ugly.

His fur was disheveled from sleep, the three bangs that normally protruded from his head now scattered in three different directions. His cheek fur dropped as his eyes squinted in annoyance at the lights that shone in his face. Even one of his pointed ears was folded backwards, obviously from having been slept on wrong all night. His tails, though they did not drag the ground, certainly did not seem willing to rise higher than his hips as he walked by without even saying "hello" or "good morning," instead making a beeline for the coffee maker his assistant had already had percolating.

"Good morning Mr. Prower," Mr. Cervid said as the fox shuffled past him. The only response this got the deer was a glare that told the world exactly what Miles thought of people who were altogether too cheerful in the morning.

"He doesn't seem too happy," Sonic observed, wondering how lucky he was it had been Mr. Cervid who had caught him trying to sneak into the study and not his father.

"Though quite capable of arising with the morning sun, even after spending all night working on one or more of his inventions, I'm afraid the term 'bright eyed and bushy tailed' have not accurately depicted his morning state without the aid of coffee since his youth," the deer explained.

"I can hear you," Miles called as he began gulping down a cup of coffee with astonishing speed. Sonic, who had not seen the amount of cold cream and sugar that had gone into the drink, wondered how the fox's throat did not develop holes from the burning liquid. Once his cup was emptied, the still sleepy vulpine poured another, this time hesitating in drinking it long enough to run a clawed hand over his head and face, fixing the problem with his ear and simultaneously bringing his unruly bangs back into something resembling normalcy, at least for him. Thus settled, Miles grabbed the cup of coffee, and a granola breakfast bar that had magically appeared next to his hand courtesy of Mr. Cervid, and came to the table to sit down. Now he looked a little less like he had just been drug free from his grave, though even in Sonic's opinion he would do well to groom himself before going further.

"Good morning Tails," Sonic said. The blue hedgehog did not know why, but for some reason he was hesitant to refer to the fox that had adopted him as "Dad" over the nickname he'd given the fox when they'd met. If the fox minded, he didn't bother correcting his son these slips of the tongue as it were, but still Sonic was curious.

"It is never a good morning until I've had my coffee," Miles replied, sipping the cup. Immediately a "garumph" came from Mr. Cervid who was casting a somewhat displeased look at his vulpine employer. Like clockwork Miles caught the look, though his sleep addled mind had trouble discerning what he had done to receive such a reprimand.

"I'm sure what your father means to say, Olgilvie, is 'Good morning son. Did you sleep well in your new bed last night?'" the deer commented, favoring the hedgehog with his version of a caring look, though he still seemed fairly stone faced in Sonic's opinion.

"Sorry," Miles finally said as he got the gist of what had been said, looking apologetically at Sonic. "I'm not used to there being anyone else here but me and Michael in the mornings."

"'Sallright," Sonic replied. "I probably wouldn't even be up now either if I didn't go to bed so early."

"Seven is early for you?" Miles asked.

"Yeah, usually I'm up til nine or ten."

"Given that he will be attending school at a fairly early hour next week, I would suggest you impose some sort of bed time that will allow him to awaken on time for the event," spoke Cervid.

"Pshh, it's nothing big," Sonic assured the two adults. "If I need to I can catch some extra winks in school."

"Nnnn… I don't think so kid," the fox in charge said. "I don't like parent-teacher conferences that contain the phrase 'Why is your son bringing a pillow to my class?' You get a bed time for school nights; seven sharp."

"Ah man," the hedgehog called. A part of him had secretly hoped his new life here in Station Square would be free of such annoyances as rules and restrictions, and silently he made childish curses at Mr. Cervid for starting this conversation.

"In any even, how did you sleep? Any problems with the new mattress?"

"No, it was all right," Sonic commented as he took a less enthusiastic bite of his cereal. "Softer than the one back in Green Hill."

"Sir, if I may suggest we now move on to business affairs," said the deer assistant. At his words Sonic's eyes widened and his ears perked up.

"I thought you were taking the day off today," he objected, "so we could hang out."

"I am," the fox responded.

"He is," Cervid agreed. "But at the same time he cannot simply cut himself loose for a week. The company would fall into disarray."

"I think that might be going a little overboard, Michael, I'm not that indispensable," Miles said. "At best I just wouldn't know what had been going on."

"And as the head of the company that is not a good thing, particularly given how close we are to having to showcase the Gravity Drive for G.U.N."

"Gravity Drive?" Sonic asked, and was quickly looked at by Cervid.

"Not something you need to know about… or repeat actually. It would probably be a good idea to simply ignore our conversation for the time being."

"Again a little overboard, don't you think?" Miles commented as he sipped his coffee. "Kid doesn't even know what a GD is, much less how it works."

"That would not stop a rival like Jonathon Scrift from attempting to pull the information from him given the chance. The less your son learns about this the better. I'm already somewhat apprehensive about letting him keep that sample of the anti-friction polymer you gave him."

"My toys, my say," the fox commented. "Besides, that's old stuff, everybody and their mother knows what it is now."

"Anti-friction poly-what?"

"The reason your shoes don't wear out when you run fast," Miles answered, causing the hedgehog to look at him funny. "What? You didn't think they were normal shoes did you? It's an ultra-light material I developed to construct planes with. The Tornadoes practically built from the ground up from it. When you told me about your problems with normal shoes, I figured it would help."

"So, my shoes are made of the same stuff as your plane?"

"Well more a composite since they had to be soft enough not to rub your feet raw," Miles admitted. "And don't look at me like that Cervid, I told you there were other applications for that polymer than just aircraft."

"It is that kind of disregard for secrets that your competitors are likely to exploit in order to outmaneuver you. If that happened where the Gravity Drive was concerned, especially given all the money we've invested in it, we'd be ruined."

"Like I said, the polymer stopped being a secret once everyone could replicate it and all someone had to do for that was to go collect scrap metal. Now the GD on the other hand," at this point Miles gave a predatory smile that showed off all his teeth, "it's a revolution in propulsion technology. There's no way anyone could develop anything close to it before we went to market without stopping us first."

"Very well sir, but still, you need to think about the presentation. G.U.N. will want to see what this machine can do and if we fail to suitably impress them, it won't matter if the GD works of not, they will not buy."

"I'm way ahead of you on that. I talked to some of our government and military contacts and guess what they've agreed to loan us at a remarkably small fee."

"I shudder to guess, sir."

"A Bigfoot." The deer's eyebrows rose as he looked at the fox.

"A Bigfoot?"

"It's old, scheduled to be decommissioned in a few months, and needs some modification before we can use it," Miles admitted as he steepled his hands on the table before him, smiling wider, "but if my feelings are correct, when we show off the GD with that hunk of hardware, it'll be the biggest 'Dog' in G.U.N.'s whole arsenal." Mr. Cervid, for all the good news Miles seemed to be giving him, barely twitched a muscle.

"Very well, I am glad that you were on top of this," he said as he rose from his seat. "I will make sure our receiving bays are equipped to deal with a Bigfoot and that it is brought up to standard when it arrives."

"Good man," the fox said as he also stood, shaking his assistant's hand as he did so. "Don't worry so much, Michael. The Gravity Drive is a shoe-in to impress G.U.N.'s big brass, and we'll be able to set our own price no matter how high. Have I ever failed to impress?"

"No sir, which means the statistical odds are not in your favor."

"Beating the odds is what I do for a living," Miles said. "You have my number if you need to get a hold of me."

"Yes but that does little good if you leave your cell phone behind," the deer reminded his employer.

"Right, right, I'll keep it on my like glue," the fox promised. Walking his assistant to the door, Miles bade him a good-bye, and then turned his attention back to Sonic. "You still up for some shopping today, kiddo?"

"Yes," Sonic replied, already envisioning this to be like Christmas, only with all the presents coming to him instead of being divided amongst all the children.

"Then finish breakfast and get dressed, and we'll get going." Never before had a bowl of cereal been eaten quite so fast.

to be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… :Sad Face:

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the _Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

* * *

Present

* * *

As they picked up on the low hum of the MRI machine at work, Sonic's pointed ears attempted to filter out the noise. Inside the massive machine, a pair of orange fox tails lay on a flat shelf, the body they were attached to inside the glowing, gapping maw of the circular machine, the orange fur on the subject's back illuminated by the scanning light of the magnetic field. Tails, always used to being around big machines and finding some comfort in their presence, had actually dozed off in the midst of the scanning process thanks to the hum, but Sonic found it difficult to relax. Nearby Amy stood in awe, having never actually seen an MRI machine itself, and occasionally asking questions of the technician manipulating the controls. Used to a certain amount of curiosity from laymen present, the technician answered in the monotone almost robot-like voice of someone who has given the same information repeatedly.

"You look disturbed Sonic," Labris asked as he placed a hand on the younger Mobian's shoulder. Though he did not like the hedgehog personally, their mutual concerns did make them something of allies and the doctor didn't like seeing worry cross Sonic's mind.

"I get disturbed every time I see him down here," Sonic explained. No need to explain who he was referring to, not by a long shot. "And now you tell me you don't think he's going to be cured."

"No, I said a cure was improbable," Robert Labris corrected. "But I'm a gambler by nature and as long as I've known him Miles has had a habit of beating the odds, so long shots are far from impossible."

"But he's not gonna beat this is he?" Sonic asked, not fooled by Labris's placations. Sadly the doctor shook his head.

"As I said before, the best advice I can give is to enjoy the time he has left, however long that may be." A clipboard was soon hefted by furry arms up to the wolf's chest as he looked at some of the active images being displayed on the screen, a frown crossing his face. "Have you noticed any sort of decrease in his mental abilities?"

"What do you mean?" the hedgehog asked, not liking at all where this line of questioning was heading. Of course, he never did.

"Has he stopped engaging in activities you normally associated with him, possibly due to being unable to pursue them?" Sonic thought for a moment.

"His toys…" he finally answered.

"Excuse me?"

"He takes his toys apart… completely. I mean down to the individual screws and stuff."

"Nothing unusual about that, precociously curious children have been doing that for centuries…"

"Yeah, the problem is… he doesn't always put 'em back together…" Seeing the doctor's quizzical look, the hedgehog decided to elaborate. "Look I know what that sounds like but this is Miles remember? He takes apart everything I give him; toys, game systems, RC stuff, you name it. And usually he just puts it all back together, you know, like there's no problem. It's kinda cute, really, sometimes they worked better than they did beforehand, which is pretty cool for the brand new stuff. But lately…"

"Lately not so much?"

"Yeah, he gets… frustrated with the more complicated stuff, like he can't figure it out… like it's beyond him. And this is the kid that built the Tornado and then upgraded it ten times. Putting a gamestation back together oughta be a cake walk for him."

"I was afraid of this." When no further explanation came, Sonic grew with his typical impatience.

"What were you afraid of?"

"I can't be sure until I've studied the scans completely, but from what I'm seeing here several of the neural pathways that existed last time in the region of the brain dealing with long-term memory have simply… vanished, most likely 'restored' to their original forms by the effects of Merlin's Disease. Most likely these held some of his accumulated knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering." Labris turned to Sonic, concerned. "You haven't let him try to upgrade the Tornado and then fly it, have you?"

"No. He has to run every upgrade by me and I've been telling him 'no' for some time now. I don't think he likes it."

"It's for the best I'm afraid," Labris responded. Once more the hedgehog cast a sorrowed glance at his best friend's prone body.

"It shouldn't have happened. Not to him," Sonic responded. He hated when his mind fixated on his "little brother's" condition, which tended to happen during these all too frequent check-ups.

"I agree, but I know Miles never gave up looking for a cure so the least we can do is the same," the wolf intoned just in time for the MRI to slowly begin to shut down. Automatically the shelf on which the fox lay slowly extended, strongly resembling a massive white tongue sticking out from some oversized mouth.

"It's done," the technician declared as the machine completely fell silent. Knowing he would do no harm, Sonic stepped briskly towards his charge, gently shaking the boy's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Tails sounded through the fog of sleep as he was awoken. "Is it over?"

"Yeah kid, the Doc got what he needed." Yawning and stretching his once relaxed muscles, the fox pulled himself into a sitting position before hopping down from his perch, the sound of the claws of his bare feet striking the floor echoing just a little. Without any direction, the young pilot moved over to the chair where his clothing sat, pulling on his socks, shoes, and gloves, though omitting his winter gear until he found it necessary.

"I will be in contact with you soon once I have all the results Mr. P… Hedgehog," Labris said as he shook Sonic's hand, for the briefest of moments slipping up at the tongue. Though Tails did not notice, Amy did and her eyes slightly opened a little, though she noticed her blue beau was taking it in stride. Quickly the trio was escorted back to the waiting room where a new group of waiting patients took a curious gander at the underage fox cub exiting the offices. Once Dr. Labris had moved on to his next appointment, Sonic turned towards his young charge and smiled.

"Okay kid, get your coat and hat on and we'll head over for that hot chocolate I promised you."

"Oh boy, oh boy," Tails smiled, licking his lips in anticipation of the warm, sweet treat he was about to receive. As the fox quickly dressed and scooted for the door, Amy surprised Sonic by planting a quick peck on his cheek.

"What was that for?"

"I never realized how much you go through these days," Amy said. "I guess unless you actually experience it, to be nearly called Pr…" Before she could finish the statement, two fingers presented themselves before her mouth.

"Amy, I understand what you're saying, but I would appreciate you not calling me that either… not right now anyway." Amy nodded her head as she and Sonic followed Tails out of the building.

* * *

Past: 14 years ago. (Give or take a few months.)

* * *

"Miles," a gentle voice cried as a pair of red-furred hands suddenly wrapped themselves around the fox's slender shoulders.

"Oomph… Hi Mom," Miles said as his mother, a matronly looking vixen wearing a red housecoat that went all the way down to her feet. The red fur at the top of her head showed signs of graying as did the orange that covered her body, but her cerulean eyes, so like her son's, remained as keen as ever.

"We weren't expecting you until tomorrow morning Miles, what happened?" she asked as she released her son.

"We caught a good wind and the ion thruster used it beautifully," Miles responded, referring to the extra engine he added to the Tornado that allowed the little plan to make long distance flights without the need for refueling. That was when Mrs. Prower looked down to see the small blue figure semi-hiding behind her son's legs.

"Well hello there," she beckoned, smiling lovingly down at Sonic. "You must be Sonic." Sonic nodded his head. "Well come here and let me have a good look at you." There had been a time that, in response to such a request, Sonic would have stayed hidden and scowled angrily, unwilling to put himself on display for someone to look at. The past two and a half months had actually helped to build up the little hedgehog's pride, making him more comfortable with the fact that he was different, and not even the most radically different person he knew to boot. What was an odd quill color compared to possessing twice the normal number of tails? Carefully Sonic stepped into the light that fell from the open door and allowed himself to be in full view. Mrs. Prower made a soft intake of air as her hands went to her cheeks, her eyes displaying much delight. "Miles you never told me he was so handsome."

"Well I…" The fox's explanation was cut off as his mother dove down and scooped up his son in her arms, squeezing him in an embrace, his sharp quills bothering her not at all.

"Ha ha ha," Sonic laughed as the vixen's fur tickled his body. No doubt about it, he could get used to grandparents.

"Well, Miles, don't just stand there letting all the warm air out, come inside," Evelyn Prower commanded her son as she proceeded to carry her ready-made grandson inside as well.

"Uh Sonic was supposed to help me with the luggage," Miles pointed out at his mother's retreating back.

"Oh posh, Miles you a healthy young fox, you can handle it."

"Yes but…" Again the fox's words were interrupted; this time by a pair of orange fingers flicked his nose. "Ow!"

"No back talking Miles, I taught you better than that," Mrs. Prower said, Sonic now cradled in her arms like an oversized, spiny baby and looking very smug too. He could definitely get used to having grandparents.

"Yes ma'am," Miles said as he struggled to collect both his and Sonic's bags, grumbling quietly about some choice grievances he had with his rearing over Sonic's.

Mr. Prower had been military man, or fox as it were, back in his youth, a commander in fact in G.U.N.'s Airforce, and a fairly decorated pilot at that. Thus it was that he had retired quite comfortably from the service and become an adventurer of sorts, looking for lost cities and treasure as he did so. That was actually how he'd met the future Mrs. Prower, escorting the young archaeologist to one such city and helping to explore its hidden caches. This was also why the Prower home was filled with several old artifacts, remnants of digs and such that had little value any more beyond keepsakes.

As Mrs. Prower walked through the entryway hall carrying her new grandson, Miles hobbled along behind her, weighed down by the four bags the pair had decided to bring with them.

"Bartholomew, we have company," she called into the parlor, looking down at Sonic in her arms. "We weren't really expecting the two of you until tomorrow morning, so I'm afraid we were watching the news when you came." Very soon Miles's father Bartholomew Prower exited the room. Though like his wife his fur was lined with streaks of gray, the old fox still held himself tall and strong and cut an impressive figure as he stood in the doorframe wearing a dark red robe. In his hands a smoking pipe rested, carefully held so as not to allow the smoldering embers of the tobacco leaves its bowl held to fall to the floor. Most impressive was his tail. Unlike his son's pair which tended to flick about behind him as though they were endowed with minds of their own, or even his wife's which shifted periodically from side to side behind her as she walked, Bartholomew's tail was held a strict attention, behind and to the left of him, only visible enough to be seen. As he moved, every movement was controlled and purposeful, every muscle held in check. His face was stern and impassive, but his eyes… Though Miles had inherited his eye color from his mother, the eyes themselves were definitely like his father's, filled with an uncontrollable curiosity and a keen understanding of the world around him.

As those eyes surveyed the scene that had come to his door, that of his wife carrying a six, nearly seven, year old he had never seen and his son stooped over under the weight of the bags he carried, Sonic couldn't help but feel out of place. Regally the former pilot strode over to the little blue bundle in Evelyn Prower's arms, inspecting the boy with a glance.

"So, you're Sonic," he said in a voice that made it difficult to tell exactly what he was thinking. A firm believer in action speaking louder than words, Bartholomew had long since trained his voice to betray none of his inner thoughts to anyone; so it was that Sonic felt a little like a bug under a microscope. Bartholomew's hand cupped the cub under his chin and stared into his eyes. "You've got an impetuous streak to you, don't you?" he asked, a sly grin coming to his face as he turned to Miles. "What was it your mother said about cursing you with a child that would cause you as much trouble as you caused us?" The sly smile was broken by a low laugh as the elder fox stepped forth to hug his son. "You must be tired, come into the den and let's relax for the evening." With a gentle rubbing of Sonic's head, the retired commander led the way into the specified room.

Inside was a fair sized television which sat in front of two recliners and to the side of a couch. A small desk sat in the corner, on which a lamp sat providing illumination to the room while a fan twirled above them. A fireplace stood with a mantle on which sat a copy of the family picture Miles had in his own apartment, as well as several other pictures of the fox at various stages of his life. Hanging above them all, however, was an oil-panting portrait of both Evelyn and Bartholomew Prower in their finest attire, gentle smiles on their faces. All over the room, sitting on tables, and on the floor, were vases and small statues that Sonic couldn't help but think looked both valuable and VERY breakable. Not wishing to get on the elder vulpines' bad sides, Sonic made a mental note to not touch anything in this room unless given permission, reasoning that that would negate any blame on his part.

Mrs. Prower moved over to one of the recliners, Sonic still in tow and quickly moved him to sit in her lap as she did so, while her husband did the same. Still carrying the bags, Miles unceremoniously dropped them to the floor before collapsing onto the couch.

"Is that the way we taught you to treat your things?" Mr. Prower said in an authoritative tone that made the younger fox suddenly jump up. Quickly casting an annoyed look at his father, whatever snide comment Miles had been about to make was cut off by a raised eyebrow from the elder fox. Sonic worked to suppress a giggle of amusement at watching his father, who always seemed to be the one in control of every situation, suddenly being held under the sway of someone else for a change. "So how have you been doing Miles?"

"We're doing quite well actually. Prower Aerodynamic is getting ready to unveil a new project that will revolutionize aviation."

"Really?" Mrs. Prower asked, though her tone of voice conveyed that, while impressed, this was really nothing new on her son's part. She had long ago come to understand that she had given birth to an exceptional offspring, and it no longer surprised her when he boasted about some new advancement he'd made in his chosen field. With a smile she looked down at Sonic. "And what about you Sonic? What have you been up to since you joined our little clan?"

"Well," Sonic thought as he suddenly had both of the elder vulpine's attention, "I started first grade a couple of months ago, and that was pretty cool. The P.E. coach says I'm a natural at something called gym… gymna… gymnasty?"

"Gymnastics," Miles corrected.

"Yeah, I guess that means I tumble around real good," Sonic explained, his face the picture of coolness as he did so. "And no one's been able to touch me when we play tag."

"Excellent," Mr. Prower congratulated, fully believing his adopted grandson to be speaking figuratively as opposed to literally. That none of his schoolmates were actually ABLE to touch him did not strike Sonic as the least bit odd. "And I hope you are also keeping up with your schoolwork as well." At this Sonic became a little sheepish. Ms. Price had of course provided for the educational needs of her charges, but due to the somewhat frigid nature of the monkey and hedgehog's relationship, Sonic had been less than willing to apply himself to this task…

As such, he did not have the some of the more basic knowledge that his potential classmates had. Fortunately, due both to the low grade level he was currently enrolled in and the fact that Sonic was not a stupid boy, the blue hedgehog had been able to catch up, even though it had involved a lot of hard work and questioning towards his new father. As a result though, his first grading period had been less than stellar and wasn't exactly something Sonic liked to advertise.

"He's working hard," Miles answered, perhaps guessing at Sonic's reluctance to speak on the subject. "He's mastered the alphabet and is becoming a spelling expert."

"Ah, most excellent," Mr. Prower said. "Athletics are fine, but a young man must be successful in academics if he is to be a success. If you learn nothing from my generation but that, I shall consider our time together well spent." At his father's statement, Miles rolled his eyes, obviously used to such statements from the elder vulpine.

"So, Mr. Prower, Tails said you used to go on adventures," Sonic said, hoping to turn the topic of conversation towards some of the neat looking statues that decorated the room. At the mention of the nickname Sonic had for his "father," Miles's own father raised an eyebrow. If he had any comments to make, a slight shaking of his head seemed enough to get him to reconsider.

"Yes," he finally answered. "After I was discharged from the Air Force, I decided to continue seeing the world and began exploring the ancient ruins and other natural phenomena of our planet. I was apparently good enough at it that others opted to hire me to show them such places safely."

"Bet you've gotten to see all sorts of neat stuff."

"Why yes, yes I suppose I have," Bartholomew answered. "I saw the darkest catacombs of the Mystic Jungle, the highest peaks of Hill Top… I was actually rather famous for a while, received all sorts of gifts and citations for going where none before me had dared to go."

"Is that why you got that?" Sonic asked as he pointed to a large trophy sitting a cabinet in the room, three miniature planes jetting off of its top. "Did you get it for flying great somewhere?"

"Actually, we received that from Miles," Mrs. Prower explained, causing her son to blush. "He was awarded it and had no place to put it." Sonic looked at the two-tailed fox. Obviously there was something Miles had not told about himself, and the hedgehog felt there was probably a very good story to go with such a gaudy trophy. Casting a look at his adoptive father that just begged for the story, Sonic waited in semi-patience; fidgeting in his new Grandmother's lap only a little.

"I still can't believe you participated in the barbaric show of testosterone the way you did," Mrs. Prower said when no explanation came, perhaps sensing Sonic's need to know.

"Oh come now Evelyn, I understand it perfectly," the Prower Pater said, "I understand it perfectly. When a man has talent, it is only natural that he yearns to prove his prowess. If you learn nothing from my generation but that, I shall consider our time together well spent."

"What was it?" Sonic asked. "The competition I mean…"

"It was the thirteenth annual Aerial Dogfight Competition," Miles said. Unfamiliar with the terminology, all Sonic's fertile mind could think of was a bunch of dogs battling each other in a ring in a way similar to the boxing match he'd once beheld. Given that foxes possessed nowhere near the muscular build the larger canines did, the image of Miles in such a competition seemed just a bit ludicrous to the hedgehog and he began to wonder if his father was pulling his leg. Seeing the uncomprehending look on his "son's" face, Miles elaborated. "It's an air battle for pilots, the best in the world."

"It's a nightmare," Mrs. Prower. "A bunch of crazies go up in their planes and shoot live ammunition at each other until only one is left. How that 'competition' is still going on, I haven't the foggiest idea."

"It's not that bad Mom," Miles interjected. "We've only had one death in the entire history of the tournament."

"That's not to say you flyboys haven't tried for more," the vixen countered. "My heart nearly stopped when those wretched Battle Birds tried to take over the whole event."

"When did that happen?" Sonic asked, enraptured by this story.

"The first time Miles competed," Bartholomew said, a tint of pride in his voice, "that's why that trophy is so big. My son was the pilot who sent the whole Armada running with scalded tail-feathers." Sonic stared wide-eyed at the fox's entrepreneur as Tails rubbed the back of his head, an embarrassed tinge of red coming to his cheeks.

"You beat a whole Armada?"

"Well, not the whole one, it was only about twenty or twenty-five of their ships… and a few zeppelins they were using for crowd control and the other pilots helped to thin down the numbers of the Battle Birds…"

"Posh. You shot down twelve of their planes by themselves, including their blowhard commander. Single-handedly saved the show, which the judges thought was a good enough effort to name him the year's Top Gun."

"Wow," Sonic said. "Can I come see you compete this time?"

"Well I…"

"Most certainly not," Mrs. Prower said. "Now that you have a son to take care of Miles, I don't want to even hear you talking about taking to the air for some cheap thrill."

"Mom, I haven't competed for two years," the fox pointed out. "Three wins in a row was enough."

"Make sure that it was," the matronly fox said. Suddenly, Sonic yawned. "Oh dear, are you tired already?"

"No /yawn/ ma'am," Sonic lied, wanting to stay up as late as he could. Maybe he could get another good story out of his new grandparents. Unfortunately, though his brain wanted to remain awake, his body was steadfastly failing him, as indicated by the drooping of his eyes.

"On to bed with you," Mrs. Prower said as she got up, petite hedgehog in her arms. "I have Miles's old room all made up for you, so all you have to do is brush your teeth."

"Ah…"

"Best to listen to her kid," Miles said with a smile as he dug the hedgehog's toothpaste and toothbrush out of Sonic's suitcase and handed them to the sleepy hedgehog. "Mom was never one to take no for an answer."

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

_"So, what do you think?"_

_"He's very sweet."_

_"But...?"_

_"Oh… just a mother's prerogative. I had hoped to see you married before I had grandchildren."_

_"I know. It's just… I wanted to have kids, and I was tired of waiting for Miss Right to come along."_

_"Such things take time son."_

_"Three years of almost constant trial and error were more than enough time for me. I just got tired of meeting the same women over and over again."_

_"Heh heh."_

_"Why are you laughing?"_

_"Oh to be young and have your problems my boy."_

_"So you think I should have held off."  
_

_"Miles, I'm not going to pretend I wouldn't have preferred you give it more time, but I'm not going to say what you did was wrong either. Sonic's a sweet boy who seems very full of energy, though I think you're going to have your hands full."_

_"Gee thanks, your faith in me is overwhelming."_

_"Don't be cheeky son. Now, how long are you planning this visit to be?"_

_"Sonic has school Monday, so we'll have to head back on Sunday Night…"_

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Sonic had to admit, the family home of Mr. and Mrs. Prower was a big. Since they lived on Westside Island, land was still at a premium, but fifty acres was a very sizeable estate, and Sonic was having a blast trying to run from one end of the land parcel to another and back again. There were several trails that had been cut specifically for this purpose and the six year old (getting close to seven) hedgehog was very busy trying to run each and every one. Of course, Mrs. Prower had insisted the hedgehog not get out of her sight, more so he didn't accidentally trip himself than because she feared anything dangerous.

_&Tails was lucky growing up around here,&_ the hedgehog thought as he leapt over a rising tree root. _&All this space to run and play; better than that smelly old orphanage.&_

"Sonic, you're going too far again!" Tails called from where he and his parents were busy setting up the picnic they'd planned.

"Ahh! I just wanna see what's on the other side of these trees," Sonic called back.

"Sonic…" Dejectedly the hedgehog began to trudge back towards the foxy trio, only to be stopped by the sound of Mr. Prower's voice.

"You know, some exercise would do me some good; work up and appetite before we eat," the older fox said as he stood and stretched his arms.

"Dear," Mrs. Prower chided, knowing where this little line of thought was going.

"What can I say Evelyn, I love to nourish the spirit of adventure in the young," Bartholomew said with a smile on his face.

"Just make sure the two of you get back here in time," Tails said as he began to construct a small fire pit near the picnic area, all the better to re-heat or cook some of the foodstuffs they'd brought. "Sonic may seem like fun but he gets very cranky if he doesn't eat on time."

"Of course, of course," the elder Prower said as he waved his son off and walked towards his new grandson. Sonic, now getting what he'd wanted, happily offered his hand up to his grandfather and the two of them entered the woods. Though the old fox was still spry for his age, the blue hedgehog wisely kept from trying to run at his full speed, realizing that Tails might not be too thrilled with his son if he broke his grand-dad in half. Not that there wasn't plenty to keep the hedgehog's interest as they moved deeper into the forest; Mrs. Prower and Tails disappearing behind them. Birds chirped, feral squirrels ran, as well as other forms of more wildlife that tended to enjoy such environments. Sonic couldn't help but think of Mr. Cervid leaping through the trees as he walked; an image that seemed just too weird even for him.

Soon the duo found themselves exiting the forested area, however, and standing at the shore of a small freshwater lake. Sonic's eyes widened as he looked at the clean and clear water sparkling in the noon sunlight. As if summoned by some unknown spirit of serenity, a fish leapt from the water and dove back in.

"Wow," Sonic said.

"Not bad, huh?" Bartholomew asked. "This was always my favorite spot here."

"Definitely not a bad place to spend a summer," Sonic said.

"You know how to swim?"

"No, not really," Sonic admitted. "Price never got around to getting us lessons before I left, but Tails promised he'd teach me."

"Well that's good. Every child needs to know how to swim," the fox said as he walked over towards a fallen log that was half buried in the shore of the lake. Nearby a fishing pole rested, its handle stuck into the ground.

"Who's the fisher?" Sonic asked.

"Me. I tried to teach Miles the sport but… he wasn't interested."

"Yeah, that sounds like him…" Sonic admitted.

"Hmm?" Realizing he'd just made what he'd thought was an internal comment externally, Sonic jumped a little. Not overly used to keeping his opinions to himself, the blue hedgehog hoped, just this once, that his opinionated nature had not insulted the adult in his vicinity.

"Well, no offense to you or Mrs. Prower…"

"Please, call her Grandma," Bartholomew corrected.

"Uh… Grandma… I mean this is a great place and all, and I'm betting 'Dad' probably had a blast growing up here… when he was younger… but…"

"But it doesn't seem like the kind of place Miles would choose to be now, does it?"

"Well… no." Mentally Sonic slapped himself. That sounded so horrible to say since the two-tailed fox HAD voluntarily returned to this spot, and not just so his adoptive son could be introduced to his parents. "What I mean is, if you guys weren't here…"

"He'd wouldn't really be interested in living someplace as quiet and… flat as this," Mr. Prower supplied.

"Um… no." Sonic said as Mr. Prower suddenly picked up his fishing pole and began to fiddle with it. "He always seems so… so rushed. But in a good way I mean. Like he needs to have activity all around him."

"I see," the elder fox said, casting a line into the water. The red and white bobber danced in the water for a few minutes before settling. "He was always like that, I suppose. Always having ideas and needing to see them get started and finished. Do you know he built his own bicycle when he was nine."

"No," Sonic admitted.

"Oh yes. I offered to buy him one, but he insisted he could do it on his own. And the moment that bike was finished, he immediately started trying to make it glide." The fox began reeling in his line, casting again as nothing came with it.

"Glide?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. He was at his drawing board for two weeks after school trying to figure out how to make his bike fly." At this Mr. Prower gave a short laugh. "That's just the way he is I suppose."

"Sonic! Dad! Time to eat!!" Tails's voice bellowed over the forest.

"It would seem my son wishes us to return," Bartholomew stated.

"'Why shout when I can yell,'" Sonic quipped, drawing a smile to the older Mobian's face.

"Then let us not keep him waiting," he said as he once more replaced the fishing rod. As the two of them started back to the picnic site, Mr. Prower looked down at his grandson. "The next time you and Miles come for a visit, I shall have to remember to reserve some time to teach you to fish. I think you might find it enjoyable."

"Why not, I'm game for anything."

Back at the picnic, fox and hedgehog came upon an odd sight. Miles was kneeling before his mother, holding out one of his hands as its index finger was busy being wrapped in a white cloth.

"I do say, what happened." Before Miles could answer, Evelyn spoke up first.

"Our super-genius son tried to grab the hot dogs with his claws, and got his silly self burned," she said, wrapping the aforementioned finger tightly. Having thus been outed by his maternal parent, Miles could only grin sheepishly.

"Not my best idea, I'll admit," he admitted.

"Nothing too serious I hope," his father asked.

"A minor burn, I used to treat worse when my brothers played with fireworks," Evelyn admitted. For his part, Sonic's attention was almost completely focused on the large platter of chili-dogs that had been laid out on the picnic blanket. Miles of course noticed this.

"I see something else has gotten your attention besides my pain," he said.

"What are you guys gonna eat?" Sonic asked as he began to reach out towards the chilidogs, completely ignoring the rest of the picnic feast.

"Uh-uh," Miles said. "You get three chilidogs max, and you have to eat a little from everything else."

"Ah."

"I'm not letting you graze on nine chili-dogs by yourself and then schluff off on any vegetables or anything else Son," the fox said. "Especially when Mom went to the trouble of making her potato salad."

"But the chili-dogs…" Sonic said, staring at his most beloved food with a forelorn look.

"Now Sonic," Bartholomew said as he looked at his grandson, "young hedgehogs who don't eat a well balanced meal seldom are able to enjoy the more exciting things in life. If you learn nothing from my generation but that…"

"I shall consider our time together well spent," Miles said, causing Mr. Prower to let out a flustered huff.

"Don't be a smart mouth, Miles," he said. "You are not yet old enough I cannot take you over my knee." Miles himself smirked at this meaningless threat as Evelyn Prower placed the final plate upon the picnic blanket.

"Besides Sonic," she said to the still pouting hedgehog, "If you don't get all your vitamins, I can't give you any of this." So saying she lifted the towel that was covering the dish to reveal a large chocolate…

"CAKE!!" Sonic screamed, salivating like a hedgehog possessed as his eyes trained on the gigantic pastry his new grandmother had revealed. If there was anything that could sway a child away from a mound of junk food, it was the promise of something entirely made of sugar. Chocolate frosting had been wrapped upon the moist cake, along with green and red frosting used for flowers. And written in bright blue across the cake's were the words "Welcome to the family, Sonic." Suddenly, without warning, Sonic's legs and feet moved, propelling the boy's body forward. Before any of the three foxes could even think to react, Sonic had snatched up and empty plate and begun racing about the blanket.

"What in the world?" Tails's father asked.

"He told you he was fast, didn't he?" Miles stated, smiling. Once his son stopped, the previously empty plate now held a portion, albeit a small one, of each dish that had been set up for the family picnic, plus the three chili-dogs he'd been promised. Bartholomew and Evelyn could only star at the blue hedgehog in surprise, unable to really grasp what they had just seen.

"So when I finish all this, I get cake, right?" Looking at the somewhat meager portions Sonic had taken, Miles's right eyebrow rose.

"Uh, I'll put it to you this way, you can have as much of that cake as you took of the salad," he stated then looked at his parents, both of whom had recovered from their shock.

"Ah," Sonic whined, "but if I eat too much, then I won't have enough room for cake… and then it will go to waste."

"Not likely, given Barty's sweet tooth," Evelyn pointed out. "Where did you learn to move so fast?" As she asked, Sonic was busy putting a full serving of the dishes he'd just selected upon his plate, albeit much more slowly than before.

"I don't know, I just do," he said truthfully.

"I daresay I could have used you when my radio failed during my exploration of White Jungle," Bartholomew declared with a laugh of delight. "This boy could have just run the messages back and forth between my camp and the city."

"That sounds like it would've been fun," Sonic said, munching on a chili-dog as he dreamed of massive trees and thick vines he could easily move over and slide down as he raced through said jungle. "What was it like?" With a smile on his face, Bartholomew began to regale his family with tales of his adventures in all the most inaccessible and dangerous parts of the world. All three members of his audience, including those two who had most often heard these stories, listened quietly as they ate their meal and spent their afternoon together.

To Be continued...

**Author's Note 2:** For those in the know, yes, the Aerial Dogfight Competition is the same one Sly Cooper competed in during Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. See ya next time, hopefully the next chapter will be quicker than this one.


	5. Chapter 5

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… :Sad Face:

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the _Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

Sorry this took longer than expected, my computer ate the whole Reversion document so I've been scrambling to rewrite the entire fifth chapter to get it up. On the plus side, this is actually a day earlier than I thought it would be. :grins sheepishly:

* * *

Present

* * *

Tails released a pleased moan as he sipped his hot chocolate, a ring of off-white cream and brown dust appearing on his muzzle when he pulled the cup back. The Barista had recognized Tails as the fox who'd saved the city from being destroyed by Robotnik's missile a few years earlier and that had apparently prompted her to give him something special in his drink. Not much of a fan of coffee himself, Sonic had taken a sampling of the special, some sort of imported drinking chocolate they were charging four bucks for eight ounces for. Truthfully the blue hedgehog couldn't tell the difference between this and the normal (and less expensive) hot chocolate Tails had gotten, save perhaps that this might have been thicker. Amy had gotten a Sumatran blend, then proceeded to add so much creamer and sugar to it that Sonic wondered if there was any actual coffee taste left to it.

Steam rose from their drinks as the trio exited the crowded coffee shop, unwilling to just stand around drinking their drinks and doing nothing. A quick look at a hole on Tails's left hand had proven the kit needed new gloves, so they were off to the mall where, hopefully, they would find a set he would like. The sidewalks and such were not crowded, a fact attributed to the large amount of snow on the ground and cold weather. Humans just weren't built to appreciate such temperature drops. As Sonic held his beverage to his face and let the steam unfreeze some of the snot in his nose, he realized this was something he held in common with the human race.

_&Can't imagine what the Chaotix go through during these times,&_ Sonic thought, chuckling to himself as he imagined his cold-blooded friends all making hasty vacation plans to be in Coast City. Tails suddenly bounded forward, leaping with both feet into a patch of snow to leave his footprints, an indelible impression that he'd been there, at least until the snow melted away. Sonic was very quick to get his mind off that depressing little train of thought. The last thing he needed was more reasons to dislike snow.

Amy had convinced the boys to go to a movie with her, an idea Tails had readily supported and Sonic had put up a token resistance to. It wasn't like they had anything to do today, now that Tails's appointment had been taken care of and Sonic was not overly in love with the idea of going home and spending the afternoon with a bored and cooped up fox kit. Still, he wasn't about to just let them have their way without a little bit of struggle. He might have resisted more if he'd known what the movie Amy suggested was; some action/adventure about a human flying around Central City with a cape and spandex.

_&Of all the ludicrous ideas,&_ the hedgehog had thought to himself. Still, Tails seemed enthusiastic about it, and Sonic had to smile at what was most likely a small remnant of the man he'd once been shining through. Suddenly the little fox stopped in his tracks and began to wave, causing his guardian to cast a quick glance ahead of him.

"Hi Shadow!" the kit cried as Sonic spotted his ebony counterpart for Team Dark walking towards them. Shadow wore nothing save his usual attire of gloves and shoes, claiming that, as the Ultimate Lifeform, the cold couldn't bother him. Silently Sonic wanted to drop the egotistical hedgehog into a frozen lake and see if that cold bothered him, but decided he actually preferred his lungs on the inside of his body. Shadow looked down at the kit that had called his name and smiled a friendly smile before his face returned to its normal, almost scowling appearance for Sonic and Amy. Both the pink and the blue hedgehog smiled at him, used to the somewhat caustic manner by which Shadow treated others.

"Hey Shades, what's up?"

"I'm clearing my head. Figured with the weather the way it was, there'd be less chance of me getting crowded by idiots." A sarcastic reply, but not the sneering suspicion Gerald's greatest creation would once have given. The years had allowed Shadow to mellow a bit. He would probably never be the paragon of friendliness Sonic was, but at least he no longer acted like he'd vaporize a section of the city at the drop of a hat.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so stuffy aboard Ark if you had some more plants up there," the ever helpful Amy pointed out.

"I'm not letting my space station smell like a perfume store," Shadow grated out. Suddenly, a pulling on his elbow directed the ebony space-farer's attention back downwards.

"Hey Shadow, guess what we're gonna go do," Tails said. "Amy's taking us to see the SuperDude movie." Again Shadow's features lightened as he gazed at the small orange fox.

"Sound neat kid, hope you have fun," he said.

"You wanna come too, I bet you'd like it, its all about this guy who comes down to Earth from space and he saves the planet and…"

"Sorry Tails," Shadow said, "I have to get back to Ark soon. That station would fall out of its orbit without me." As Tails groaned his disapproval, Sonic had to marvel at how gently Shadow was willing to treat the kit. Not too many years ago he would have just answered Tails's question with the same icy glare he gave everyone, now he was much more careful with the boy. It had taken Sonic a while to figure out why, suspecting that the crafty hedgehog was trying to lower his increasingly more vulnerable ward's guard for some dastardly plot. In the end, Rouge and Omega had been the ones to point out the reason was in Shadow's past. Maria had been sick nearly all her life, and Shadow simply had a soft spot in his heart for any children caught in similar tragic circumstances. Sonic's thoughts were interrupted however as he realized he was being addressed.

"Sorry, what'dja say Shadow?" Sonic asked as Shadow gave him an annoyed look.

"I asked how the appointment went today. Is the kid showing any signs of improvement?"

"We're not a hundred percent but… Doc Labris doesn't think so." The black hedgehog put a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"Maybe you should look for a new doctor, someone who's a specialist with children and diseases," he suggested. "Labris is good, but…" This time it was Sonic's turn to shoot Shadow an annoyed look. Green eyes cast a quick glance for Tails who was currently occupied with trying to build a snowman from the slushy snow on the sidewalk, a task that apparently numerous children had tried if the number of small, malformed snow people present was any indication.

"Look, I don't like talking about this in front of the kid. He's got enough problems to handle, okay?"

"Fair enough," Shadow said. "But like I said, if you decide you'd like the help, I still have all of Professor Gerald's old work up on Ark, and there are some top notch geneticists and histologists up there as well. I could get the whole group working on helping to find the cure for him."

"Yeah, or spend the rest of his time trapped up in that floating prison." Instantly Sonic regretted his words, knowing exactly whose fate he'd been knocking when he'd done so.

"I'm gonna let that pass," Shadow said.

"Uh, thanks," Sonic said. "Look, thanks for the offer, but I'd really rather keep the number of people who know about this sma…"

"Take that you runty FREAK!" came a yell. The sudden sound of something hard striking a warm body caused the hedgehog's head to turn.

"OWWWW!!" Tails began to wail as he held the side of his head, a small trickle of blood already discoloring the orange fur. On the ground beside him sat a rock about the size of a small fist, the cause of the small boy's current crisis. Emerald eyes flared as Sonic looked about, finally catching sight of a lanky figure in a trench coat running away from them, already several blocks thanks to the blue hedgehog's inaction.

"Amy, watch Tails for me," Sonic instructed as the pink hedgehog grabbed the sobbing kit in her arms. Sure that Tails was in good hands, Sonic's feet revved up and he began his pursuit.

* * *

13 years ago

* * *

His eyelids were drooping, a clear indicator that he was getting drowsy.

Not surprising really, it was the heat that was making him so. Twenty-six warm bodies, even small ones like theirs, were bound to generate a warm atmosphere, especially as the weather outside turned warmer. Station Square had long since adopted year-round school, dividing the summer months of freedom amongst other holidays, unlike Green Hill which still had three glorious months of summer. As he sat in his chair, his head resting in his arms, Sonic couldn't help but wonder if there was anyway he could have those days back. Not that he wanted to give up what he had now. The young hedgehog had been thrilled at the idea of having two full weeks of Spring Break instead of only one, but youthful minds rarely consider such tradeoffs.

Mr. Langstrom, a tall skinny human with brown hair on the sides of his head and a brown moustache underneath his big pointed nose, was currently up at the blackboard going over the basics of multiplication. This was more preparatory for the children's next advancement to the second grade, he'd stated as much, but the man was also a dedicated teacher who believed in preparing his students for everything in life. Sonic of course had gone home and immediately complained to Tails about how his crackpot teacher was trying to teach him stuff he didn't even need yet. The fox had promptly laughed and sent his young son back the next day with a note of thanks for Langstrom. Sonic had not been amused.

"Psst, Sonic," hissed a voice that immediately behind and to the left of the blue hedgehog. Glancing backwards carefully so as not to alert the teacher to the fact that he wasn't paying attention, Sonic spotted the source of the voice, a red, yellow, and black armadillo named Mighty of all things.

"What up Night?" Sonic whispered back.

"Mom's taking Angie an' me to that new skating rink at the mall this weekend. Since Angie's bringing a friend, I need some protection man, care to be my backup?"

"I'd have to ask my Dad," Sonic pointed out, "but count me in. Tails hasn't told me any plans he has for us this weekend so…"

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Mr. Prower?" Mr. Langstrom's voice asked as the man suddenly appeared right in front of the hedgehog's desk. Grinning sheepishly up at the teacher, Sonic was quite ready to reply, but decided against it. Tails had already warned Sonic about behaving in school, having already been called in for a parent/teacher conference and, if he was about to ask permission to spend the weekend with Mighty and his family, he didn't really want to anger the elder fox.

"Sorry Mr. L, won't happen again," Sonic said.

"Very well," the easygoing teacher said, unwilling to take this further than necessary. A few more minutes passed as the human continued speak on his subject. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm bell going off was heard and the droopy, dreary assembled students became animated cheering at the signal that it was lunch time. Sonic too joined in the cheering. Lunchtime preceded recess, unquestionably the hedgehog's most favorite part of the school day. Quickly the children stuffed their books and bags under their chairs, pulling free their lunchboxes and bags as they began to tussle and rustle their way out of the room. Above the din Mr. Langstrom called to his students, telling to remember they would have reading lessons after recess.

Grabbing his own Speed Racer lunchbox, Sonic too prepared to leave, hooking up with Mighty as he did so.

"Thanks for getting me in trouble, dorkface," Sonic said, using his knuckles to strike the other boy's head.

"Ow," Mighty yelped, glaring at his friend. "Don't blame me if you're not smart enough to keep from being noticed ya spiky pincushion." Saying this, Mighty's fist collided with Sonic's shoulder, causing the hedgehog to yelp as well. With punishment and retribution now concluded, armadillo and hedgehog continued their trek towards the cafeteria quickly, laughing and joking as they did so. Soon they were joined by two other boys; a brown furred monkey wearing glasses and a bright yellow flying squirrel, Carl and Ray respectively. Quickly the quartet moved over to a free table, needing only to bump into a few other kids before sitting down.

"So what'd you losers bring for lunch today?" Mighty asked as he unpacked a bologna sandwich, carrot sticks, and some string cheese, along with a thermos containing what he said was grape juice.

"What's a matter rockhead, Momma not pack anything good today?" Carl said laughingly as he set the brown bag he used on the table before pulling forth his own lunch; a triple-decker peanut butter banana sandwich, coupled with a peach cobbler fruit cup and a carton of milk.

"Nah, just wanna make sure I don't trade for any of your mushy ol' bananas fuzzy." Sonic laughed as he emptied out the lunch Tails had made for him, a do it yourself chili-dog kit and a can of soda.

"Geez pincushion, chilidogs again," Ray said as he shook his thermos containing the high energy sugar water he so loved. "I don't envy the sap that has to sit next to you after lunch."

"Oh ha ha ha, you are a laugh riot bushy butt." Soon a small trading session began as each of the children began to barter some of their food for others. This mini-trader's market was not limited to their own group as Mighty spotted a rabbit girl with a slice of chocolate cake, half of which he received for a quarter of his carrot sticks and his string cheese. Once each of their lunches had been suitably perfected, the boys the business of consuming their food and talking at the same time.

"Hey did you guys hear? G.U.N.'s got something hot and heavy moving on the outskirts of the city," Mighty said, causing his three friends to look at him in skepticism. "It's true; I heard it on the radio this morning. It's supposed to be some sort of hush-hush thing."

"Might you dummy," Carl began, adjusting his glasses, "if G.U.N. were doing anything 'hush-hush,' why would they advertise it on the radio?"

"I don't know I'm not in G.U.N.," Mighty admitted, still trying to sound authoritative. "Maybe they're trying to find something… Hey Sonic, your Dad works with G.U.N., you heard anything about it?"

"Tails just makes stuff G.U.N. buys," Sonic pointed out, thinking for a few seconds. "All though…" It was at this point that the hedgehog's large eyes squinted suspiciously as he looked about him, making sure no one was eavesdropping before he leaned in over the center of the table. Realizing what was going on, each of his friends mimicked his actions. Sure no one could hear him, Sonic continued in a hushed tone, "he's been workin' on something mondo big for G.U.N., and I think it's nearly ready." Immediately the eyes of the other three boys grew wide. It was common knowledge that Prower Aerodynamic was in the business of building new airplanes and vehicles and such technology, and G.U.N. was one of their many clients. But to hear that Miles Prower was getting ready to unveil some new invention made each member of the assembled group feel they were privy to one of the intricate secrets of the city. Michael Cervid's comment at their first meeting about Sonic being in danger for knowing company secrets had not been lost on the hedgehog, but these were his friends, he could trust them. And if telling them about what was going on earned him a little more respect and awe from them, well, so much the better. Of course the fact that Miles was not in the habit of sharing crucial information about his company to a seven year old, even his own son, did not even cross the blue hedgehog's mind. He was in the "know," and so were his friends, and everyone knew that was cool.

"You think they're coming to scope out your Pop's new toys?" Ray asked, his fur rising a little. He loved this sort of gossip.

"Maybe, who knows?" Sonic said.

"SONIC!" yelled a voice that made the blue hedgehog and his friends turn around. A human girl of about ten with what looked to be dark blue hair and a blue spotted blouse came walking up to the quartet of boys.

"Ooooh Sonic, it's your girlfriend," Mighty cooed as the other two boys started making kissy faces at their besieged friend. A good rap on the head for all three and a hissed "shut up" conveyed Sonic's less than enthusiastic reaction to this treatment, even though this also resulted in him suffering three more shoulder punches as punishment.

"Hey Samantha," the hedgehog said as he rubbed his now sore shoulder, casting a nasty glance backwards as snickering came to his ears. The girl too looked perturbed, though for a different reason.

"I told you before Sonic, call me Sam," she said as two more girls appeared, one whispering to the young Ms. Axelby. "Alright Terry I'll be there in a second, I just need to talk to Sonic here," she replied. "Sorry about that. I wanted to let you know your birthday gift FINALLY arrived."

"Why couldn't you give it to him at the party?" Ray asked, a little confused. Sonic's first birthday in Station Square had been a week ago and the flying squirrel had thought the hedgehog had received all his gifts then.

"I sent away for it from Soleanna, rug-chick," Sam answered. "It's at my apartment so you can pick it up while you're staying over after school."

"Oooooh," came another chorus from the idiot squad, and Sonic was very quick to blow them all a raspberry. Sonic felt a little guilty. He'd thought inviting Samantha Axelby to his birthday party would be a fair trade for the party she'd thrown him to welcome him to Sky Top Towers. It had helped him get introduced to a few of the other kids in the building, including Carl, though he hadn't realized that until he'd met the monkey boy again in school. She hadn't had to get him a present. Of course, such feelings in a seven year old lasted about as long as an errant snowflake in July.

"Whatdja get me, whatdja get me?" Sonic asked, causing Sam's two friends to snicker at him, one rolling her eyes and mutter the word "boys." Sonic truthfully didn't care.

"Can't tell you it wouldn't be a surprise," Sam said as she turned to leave, shooting him a smile. "You'll just have to make sure you make it to my apartment on time to find out." Since Tails could work odd hours, especially these days so close to the completion of his company's project, Sonic had been going home to Mrs. Axelby's apartment until his father had come home. It had originally only been one or two nights a week, with a Saturday or a Sunday thrown in, but it had recently gone up to being four or even five nights. Tails had assured his young son that it was only temporary, a side-effect of being so near the end of the project. He'd even promised that he'd take Sonic on holiday somewhere for the month long summer break that was coming up to make up for it. All in all, Sonic was quite content with the situation however; Mrs. Axelby always had the best sweets around her apartment, especially the chocolaty bonbons the large woman so favored.

Her message delivered Samantha and her friends left, much to Sonic's relief. Though Samantha had been very helpful in introducing Sonic around the building and around the school, it was not a habit he could afford to keep going; he'd get a reputation as some sort of sissy if let it be known he hung out with a girl. Of course Sonic had explained this problem to his "secret" friend as gently as he knew how, asking the human to not make contact with him in public. Her response had been to yank out a few of his quills and call him a brat, but she'd still obliged him, and kept contact to a minimum.

Quickly the boys scarfed down their food, eating so fast it was a wonder none had choked to death by accident, and then they all closed up their lunchboxes, Carl tossing away his bag smugly. They were now in a race with the other kids to see who could get out to the playground first for recess. A tired looking female teacher watched as the children assembled into a mini-mob at the door, each one clamoring to be the first to the treasured outside and each resentful they weren't allowed out now. Looking at the clock mounted on the wall, the teacher carefully opened the door to the playground and stepped out of the way just in time to avoid the stampede of children all headed in the same general direction.

"Okay boys, here's the course this time," Carl said, once more adjusting his glasses as he cast a glance around the playground, beginning to tell his friends the latest incarnation of their favorite recess activity, the Weekly Obstacle Course. "The starting line is over there by the tables," the monkey said as he pointed at the aforementioned spot. "From there you go to the monkey bars. You've gotta pull yourself up to the top and cross that way, no swinging underneath. Then you go to the swings, and you have to zigzag between each one without touching, otherwise you have to go back and start the obstacle over again. After that you dive through the tire swing. Next it's over to the jungle gym where you have to climb up the net sideways, crawl through the tube, and then jump to the border of the sandpit, and finally make it in a straightaway run to the trees over there. Got it?"

Since Sonic was so unbelievably fast but his friends didn't want to give up being able to run and jump and play, Mighty had come up with the idea of forcibly slowing Sonic's legs down. Reasoning that if he couldn't just run he couldn't move at full speed, the armadillo had proposed making the race more than just about running by throwing random obstacles in the way that all the children would have to deal with in the correct manner to win. Of course the prize was a good one, the winner was the one who got to make up the next obstacle course they'd run next week. The races typically incorporated the playground equipment, the plants, and sometimes even the other children, though this last part they had to get permission beforehand for. Each of the four participant's bodies were marred with scraps, cuts, bruises, and nicks from various mishaps with obstacles that proved too ambitious for the quartet. As Sonic and his friends took their positions at the designated starting line, a crowd of their fellow children, sensing that the weekly spectacle they had grown so used to over the months since the little cliché was formed, began to gather to watch.

Taking his mark next to his friends, the blue hedgehog's ears twisted about as he listened to the cheering of the spectators, his heart filling with pride. Their cheers felt so good. It was then that his ears began to pick up on another noise, just under the screaming of the children that caused a curious sense to appear in the back of his mind.

_&Planes… like the ones in Tails's movies… what are they doing in the city?&_

* * *

Miles Prower, CEO of Prower Aerodynamic, hovered in mid air, a portable welding torch in his hands as he made the welded closed the armor plating he'd removed to get at the chest wiring of the Bigfoot Mobile Armor that currently took up space in his building's hanger, a subterranean floor inaccessible to the public, for obvious reasons. All around him other technicians worked tirelessly to prepare the giant robot to be retrofitted with the prototype gravity drive the young fox had been developing for the better part of two years, though these workers had stationed themselves upon the platforms and scaffolding that had been erected around the device. Though predominately Mobian, no few of the technicians were human as well, each one working hard in order to complete their task on time. If they found it unsettling that the owner of their company was working right along side them, it was actually a mark that they hadn't been there for too long.

Miles frowned a little. His employees were having to pull double shifts to get the Bigfoot ready, something he had actually not planned for. G.U.N. was responsible for that. Miles had fully planned, when the time came, to show off the ability of the gravity drive himself, piloting the enhanced mecha for the brass present to see. G.U.N. Command had informed him that they'd wanted one of their own pilots to handle the physical presentation, a fact which had made the fox cringe. While the first to admit there were some excellent pilots on G.U.N.'s payroll, this was an entirely new type of flight mechanism, and any pilot would need time and practice in order to handle it adequately. And of course, as the machine's inventor, Miles had been somewhat hoping to have the first go at flying it.

But now, rather than being able to work on their new "Flying Dog" all the way up until the day it needed to be presented since they had a pilot, Miles needed to get the thing operational with enough time left over to re-train some new flyboy so he didn't accidentally crash the ship.

_&With any luck they'll send me one of their newer pilots and not some old bird too set in his ways to learn,&_ Miles thought as he finished up. He'd been in a foul mood ever since this little stipulation had come up, more so because he wouldn't be the first, but with no small amount of it being attributed to now having to work under a much smaller deadline. He'd been very prepared to fire off an angry letter towards the military for all this nonsense but his ever present voice of reason Michael Cervid had been able to talk him out of it. Still, it chaffed his tails.

As though his thoughts conjured the deer, the door to the hanger opened and Michael Cervid entered, his business suit the picture of immaculate perfection and ear occupied by a wireless headset. Over his shoulder he held a separate jacket, shirt and tie on a hanger.

"Mr. Prower," Cervid asked in that deep, even voice that was often able to cut through any ambient noise surrounding him, "are you at a point wherein you may be called away for other matters?" Looking down at his personal assistant, the fox lifted the protective goggles he wore from his face.

"Give me a moment and I'll be right down," he called as he shut off the torch, careful not to touch the hot parts. Protective gloves or not, Miles wasn't interested in smelling his own singed fur. Handing the tool over to one of his technicians, the fox billionaire descended to the floor, his tails stopping their constant twirling as his feet were mere inches from the ground. "What's wrong?"

"Scranton is waiting in your office, sir. You said it was important to meet with him so I came to notify you," the deer answered calmly as Miles stripped off the protective vest and gloves he'd been wearing.

"Scranton?" the fox asked curiously, before a sudden dawning of understanding came over him. "Oh yes, I needed to talk to him, didn't I?"

"That is what I was led to believe," Mr. Cervid said. If the large Mobian was irritated by his employer's seemingly lax attitude, he didn't show it. Quickly Prower walked past his assistant, getting ready to leave the hangar as he headed for the elevator that would take him to the floor his office was on. Ever the faithful employee, the burly ruminant followed the bushy tailed creature. Once the elevator doors closed and the floor had been selected, Cervid unbuttoned the shirt he'd been holding and opened it, allowing Miles to twist into it. As foxy hands began to button it up, harder hands wrapped the tie around the fox's neck, expertly tying the silk garment into a Windsor knot, and ignoring the face of feigned choking Miles always made whenever forced to wear a tie. A light dusting of cologne from Cervid's pocket hid the smell of wiring and engine oil that always seemed to cling to Miles while the fox put on the heavy jacket that matched his shirt. Withdrawing a comb from the jacket's pocket, Mr. Cervid quickly went to work trying to tame his employer's bangs as Miles stood obediently still, only wincing as some of his knotted head fur was struck by the teeth of the comb. Michael Cervid was many things, but gentle he was not. Finally satisfied the Miles Prower no longer resembled someone who had just been dragged in out of bed, the giant deer stood stock still next to him while elevator continued its ascent, massive hands clasped firmly behind his back.

"So, has G.U.N. given us any word about our pilot yet?" Miles asked.

"They have sent us the dossiers on several of their airmen, which I am in the process of reviewing for a suitable candidate. Final say is, of course, theirs, but it seems unlikely they would disagree with our selection."

"Unless that blockhead Sheridan is trying 'flex his muscles' as it were," Miles said bitterly. A single meaty hand clasped the vulpine's shoulder.

"It does us no good to become angry over their stipulations," Mr. Cervid counseled. "G.U.N. is our customer right now, and antagonizing them over something so trivial is not good for business."

"It may be trivial to you, Michael, but I was looking forward to taking Flying Dog for its first spin," the fox said petulantly. The deer rolled his eyes.

"I understand your irritation, sir, but I'm afraid this is a battle best not fought." At his friend's words, Miles relaxed a little, conceding acceptance of the unchangeable.

"Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a spoiled brat over this."

"I have weathered far worse tantrums while in your employ sir," the deer said, casting an amused smile at the fox's somewhat hurt expression. The sound of a "ding" alerted the two passengers that their car had reached the requested floor and deer and fox stepped out. Miles Prower's office dominated the top floor of the building, the only other rooms present being the ones occupied by Michael Cervid's office and the secretary's station. At her desk sat the CEO's secretary, a lovely little mink named Janet who was busy typing away at her computer. She cast a quick glance at the open elevator and, noting both Miles and Cervid getting off of it, went back to looking at her monitor.

"Mr. Scranton is waiting for you in your office Mr. Prower," she said in her gentle voice, her head nodding towards the open door where all could see what looked like a white crane in a lab coat sitting in front of the desk.

"Thank you Janet," Miles said as he and his assistant moved on. Upon entering his office and seeing the crane, the fox was quick to note that the man was shaking in his chair. Of course Miles was fully aware that meeting with your boss was not the easiest thing to deal with, but the two tailed fox had hoped he'd garnered a reputation as someone his employees didn't have to fear. Swiftly he moved around his desk, taking a seat in the overlarge chair that sat there as Cervid stood next to Scranton, a dour look upon his face. Not surprising. Scranton was the head technician in charge of testing the gravity drive, making sure its capabilities fell well within the boundaries of what was needed of it, but Michael Cervid did not feel such a position was deserved by the crane. Though intelligent in his chosen field, Scranton was not what Miles would have called an innovator, better suited basic laboratory work over actually developing new toys. Cervid said that some of the crane's own subordinates grumbled that Scranton had a habit of taking all the credit for their own work.

"You… you… you wanted to… see me, Mr. Prower," Scranton stammered out, looking very much like he wanted nothing more than to bolt from his chair at top speed.

_&How odd?&_ the fox thought to himself.

"Sir, I'm afraid I must excuse myself," Cervid said. "I have that meeting with the department heads to attend in your stead."

"Of course Michael, I'll see you later," Miles said, waving his hands dismissively as the deer turned to leave. Though the loss of the personal assistant's presence allowed the crane to sit up a bit more, Scranton still looked nervous, as though expecting to be attacked at any moment. "Mr. Scranton," the fox said, drawing back the bird's attention to himself.

"Yes sir?"

"I need to know how the tests are coming on the GD prototype," Miles stated. "We're making the final modifications to the Bigfoot and you're group is nearly two days behind schedule getting us your reports." At Miles's words, Scranton seemed to calm down noticeably, much to the fox's surprise.

"Oh, is that all…" the crane sighed in relief.

"It is something of an important project," Miles reminded him, his eyebrow raising as he looked at his employee.

"Yes… yes sir, I understand, I didn't mean to imply…"

"Less apology, more explanation please," replied the fox.

"Right. My apolo…" catching the look his boss was giving him, Scranton decided to change his wording. "I mean, we should have the testing done by today, sir."

"What have you got now?"

"We've… managed to find the upper weight limits the GD is able to move, at least by itself anyway, and we've a much clearer concept on its power consumption…"

"How well does it handle the strain?"

"Excuse me?"

"G.U.N. will not buy a machine that breaks down the moment it's taken into any movement greater than forward, backward, up, and down."

"Yes well… the GD has shown great capability so far but…"

* * *

Miles moved swiftly through the building, still wearing the business suit his assistant had made him put on for his meeting with Scranton, a stack of papers containing technical data in his hands. Most of the data was on the GD, printed from the crane's own files so that Miles could peruse them while Scranton whipped his team up into a frenzy to try to complete their task on time. Oddly enough after meeting with the head technician, the fox felt very much in need of something to enjoy… and a shower.

Currently the CEO was making his way towards his research labs, one of his favorite parts of the building. It was within this high security area that many of the inventions for which Prower Aerodynamic were known had started out, including Miles's own beloved gravity drive and the polymer he'd used to create Sonic's shoes. Of course it would be erroneous to say everything being developed came from the foxy genius. Young Prower employed some of the most observant and talented recruiters in the world for the specific purpose of finding and hiring the most talented engineers in the world for his company, and he definitely got his money's worth. Though most of the ideas presented never got off the drawing table for one reason or another, most often limits in technology, there was always at least five or six projects going on in the labs so, while not always able to lend a direct hand from his vast pool of personal knowledge, Miles was often able to find some new and amusing invention to look forward to.

_&Something I'll need once the GD's been showcased and is in full production,&_ Miles thought as he smiled at the brown haired man sitting behind the bulletproof glass and holding up his security pass. Patiently the fox waited as a green light washed over his body, a scanner set to verify that he was who he said he was and not an imposter. As the frontrunner in his own competitive world, Miles was very well aware that he needed to be careful with is most vulnerable creations.

"Please enter Mr. Prower," the guard said as the glass door opened up and allowed the fox access to the labs. Inside, humans and Mobians dressed in white coats and carrying all manner of clipboards, pens, and semi-portable terminals clustered about in different rooms. Virtual systems allowed for the assembling of theoretical machines in cyberspace, creating three dimensional blueprints for use in the real world. The entire system was completely isolated, and anything that left the lab without first passing under the scrutiny of the guards was subjected to an intense controlled magnetic field. All hard copies from the printers were printed on a special paper lined with lead, making further copies impossible. Typically any such document produced only a blank page if sent through a machine, and even the original began to blank out after a while. A special, portable drive kept on his person at all times allowed only Miles to copy and take some files with him for his own work at his home, but it did not have the space to take a complete blueprint. Not that it really mattered. His own inventions' blueprints, the only ones he would ever dare to actively alter, he'd long since memorized.

"Mr. Prower, so great to see you again," said the voice of a female researcher, a mink sporting blonde hair. Her sleek body moved fluidly through the lab, avoiding the delicate equipment as she came to stand before the fox. "I just got back from my meeting with Mr. Cervid. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Dr. Bella," Miles said, smiling at the head of his research team. "Nothing really, just satisfying my natural curiosity over what's going on down here."

"We have some interesting projects in the works, sir," the mink said, gesturing towards holographic images of new wing designs, compact thrusters capable of suborbital flight, and even a new multi-lock missile system. "Of course, our newest project is our most exciting." So saying the female inventor lead her employer over to a secluded section of the labs, where a fairly large laser had been set up.

"What is this, some new weapon?" Miles asked as he glanced at the machine.

"The technology is still too new and unstable for us to make any real projections on its future use, but the process we've been able to develop will definitely have applications."

"Process?"

"Bonding metal and circuitry to living organic tissue," Dr. Bella said, much to Miles's surprise. "In some cases, we've even seen an improvement on the basic organic design."

"Some cases?"

"Single-celled and primitive organisms only, the nanites used in the machine are not yet ready for testing on anything more complex. But if the trend we've seen continues, it is very likely this process might have medical care applications."

"Interesting," the fox commented, scrutinizing the machine… and the collection of apparently techno-organic specimens sitting in Petri-dishes below it, a silvery carpet of biomechanical life that seemed strangely… silent. "Who came up with this idea?"

"Actually it's a joint project with another company, MeteoTech."

"They gave us their plans?"

"They're a small R&D company out in the western areas of the country sir, nowhere near our level. Their founder approached us with the idea and the basic research hoping to broker a partnership. This is what we were able to develop from their data." A shiver that had nothing to do with temperature ran down the fox's spine as he looked again at the test subjects. Something most definitely didn't feel right about this.

"I'm going to have to schedule a meeting with this founder… I'd prefer this little project be kept as quiet as possible for now."

"Of course s…" Suddenly, Dr. Bella and Miles were knocked to the floor as the whole building shook. Immediately the sounds of alarms the flashing of red lights filled the area, so much so that Miles very nearly did not feel the vibration of the phone he kept on his person as it went off.

"This is Prower, what's happening?!" he demanded.

"Mr. Prower, we have a problem. A group of airplanes seems to have violated the building's airspace and are attacking."

"What? How did that happen? Where's G.U.N.?"

"It appears to be a small six plane squadron, most likely equipped with jammers to circumvent G.U.N.'s radar systems." Again the building shook. "I'm currently trying to contact G.U.N. for assistance but…"

"It could take them a while to get into the city," Miles said in frustration. "Okay, have all non-armed employees evacuate as quickly as possible, tell them to offer no resistance towards anyone they find." Turning towards Dr. Bella he continues, "That includes you and your staff my dear, last thing I need is a large amount of casualties if this building comes done."

"Right Mr. Prower," the mink said, turning to her frightened staff. "You heard him people, we're leaving."

"What about the programs we've been running, they're important?" one of the techs asked.

"The main server is heavily protected against damage. We'll just have to pick up from our last points when we get the chance, now move."

"Sir," Cervid's voice came from over the still active cell phone, "I'm getting word that hostiles have penetrated the building."

"What about our own security defenses?"

"The intruders are moving through them with easy. I'm sending a security team to try to hold them out of the sensitive areas, but there is something you should know; they appear to be part of the Battle Bird Armada."

"Battle Birds? Here?" For a few moments Miles thought before walking over to the wall and typing in a code on the keypad found there. In seconds a hidden panel in the wall opens up to reveal a laser pistol. "Cervid, send a team down to Scranton's lab, that's where some of the Battle Birds will be heading. I'm going to the mainframe to head off the rest."

"Sir?"

"I've got a strong feeling our foul feathered friends are after the gravity drive. Don't let them get the prototype; I'm going to keep them off the plans." The sound of a gun going off comes across the phone and for a few moments Miles worries for his antlered assistant. This worry dissipates as Cervid's voice speaks up again.

"Are you sure that's wise sir? The Battle Birds are not exactly fond of you. They may try to kill you if you go down there."

"I'm hoping for that," the foxy inventor said. "Right now the game plan is to stall for as long as possible until G.U.N. gets here. Just keep them away from the gravity drive." Hanging up the phone, Miles swiftly left the now empty lab, moving like a fuzzy blur through the hallways. A quick kick to a locked door revealed the building's stairway, as well as a river of employees seeking to make it to the bottom of the building and safety.

_&And me needing to go up like a salmon,&_ Prower quipped in his mind as he moved towards the railing of the stairwell. _&Oh well, if you can't walk, fly.&_ Leaping into the air and twisting his tails together, the flying fox began his ascent, gun in hand, to the floor where his company's mainframe was located. It was a quick trip. Much like the top floor with his office, this particular landing had but one purpose; the giant computer which served as the hub for Prower Aerodynamic's computer system. Sure enough, two crows carrying weapons and dressed in the black uniforms of the Imperial War Tengus, colloquially referred to as the Battle Birds, were present looking about, while a third stood at the terminal typing in a frustrated manner.

"Stupid fox," the hacker said in a craggily, frustrated voice, "he has encrypted the data, it is nearly impossible to find what we need."

"Find it and find it quickly lieutenant," one of the two guarding crows commanded, "the Commander will not want to wait very long for his prize."

"Pity that," Miles said as he aimed his gun and fired, attempting hit the crow busy typing at his computer.

"It is the fox!" the guards cried. "The Commander will give us a bonus if we bring its pelt back." So saying the two crows opened fire, forcing the fox to duck behind a console for safety. The only thing that kept the duo from becoming a trio was a harsh order to the battle bird that had been typing to continue with his task. Pinned down, Miles could only occasionally fire back blindly, hoping to hit something that would stop this incursion.

"I have found what we are looking for," the hacker declared.

_&How did he manage to get through my firewalls so quickly?!&_ a worried fox thought. A quick look revealed the crow about to insert a portable drive of his own into the computer and steal the data. This plan was halted as a sharp laser blast blew the small storage device to pieces in the crow's very surprised hands.

"This is not a lending library, and you are trespassing," Michael Cervid's voice declared as the deer continued to fire at the bird, driving him away from the terminal. Next to him, security personal armed with guns of their own took up spots and began firing as well, providing some relief to their beleaguered CEO.

"Not that I'm not grateful Michael," Miles called out, finally able to breath again, "but didn't I tell you to head to Scranton's lab to protect the prototype."

"We were too late sir, the prototype is already missing," Cervid admitted as he ducked for cover, his ample frame providing a large target for the three now desperate birds. Miles swore under his breath.

"Okay, then we can't let breach our system. If they get close, I want you to blow the mainframe's power cords."

"I would not do that were I you my foxy friend," a gravely voice said as one of the birds tossed a small object over Miles's hiding spot. At first thinking it to be a grenade, Miles prepared to escape, only to notice that the object had a screen on it. On the screen a familiar looking block jawed crow was displayed, sneering at Miles as he did so.

"Kukku!" the fox cried, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the beaky face.

"That is the Great Commander Kukku!" the bird yelled back. "You will address the greatest pilot in the entire world by his full title you mutated freak of nature."

"I seem to recall that title belonging to me," Miles said with a smirk, "or did I imagine sending your tail feathers down in flames last time we met?" At this point the crow's beak began to grind together.

"Impudent whelp, you were lucky and that is it! Were those judges not so spineless they would have seen who the better pilot is!"

"You cheated and used your air ships to shoot down the other contestants while you flew around safely, you were gonna get disqualified anyway."

"Enough of this trip down memory lane!" the bird commanded. "I have come to claim your new gravity drive for the Imperial War Tengus. With it, our planes and ships will be unstoppable."

"Forget it Kukku, the prototype will do you no real good without the plans and I'm not letting your men anywhere near my computer."

"Yes you will Prower, you will not only let them take what we need, and you will show it to them."

"What makes you think that?" At Miles's question, the same sneering smile returned to Commander Kukku's face.

"I have recently found myself a new copilot, swung by one of your schools to collect him, perhaps you know…"

"DAD!!" Sonic screamed as the little hedgehog was suddenly shoved upwards to face the camera. His body was bound in a thick cord and it was quite obvious he couldn't move.

"Sonic!" Miles yelled back as his eyes widening as he watched his son struggling in fright.

"Ah good, you do know each other," Kukku cackled. "It does my heart good to see family so close."

"This is low, Kukku, even for you!"

"For the last time, that is THE GREAT COMMNADER Kukku," the bird said, emphasizing his title. "I would think you would want to make this go faster, considering your country's military is no doubt preparing to bear down on my men even as we speak."

"What?"

"I shall put this bluntly; your little pincushion is up here with me. If I happen to get shot down by G.U.N., I cannot guarantee his safe landing. So it is in his best interest that we be leaving soon."

"What do you want?"

"I told you, the plans for the gravity drive. Give them to my men and we will leave as quickly as possible, thus avoiding the arms of G.U.N. Once we are far enough away, I shall release your spiny blue brat and you can come collect him. Do we have a deal?" Miles pauses for the moment, trying to find as solution to his current problem. "What is it; does not this little chick mean anything to you?" Asking the question, Kukku pushes Sonic against the camera again.

"Dad… please help me," Sonic cries, tears of fright in his eyes. Squeezing his own eyes shut, Miles makes his decision.

"Throw down your weapons," he commands of his own forces. "We're going to give them the gravity drive plans."

"Sir?"

"They have Sonic. I'm not going to trade his life for a machine." Standing grimly, glaring at the three crows that could only smile knowingly at the defeated fox, Miles carried the small communicator in his hand over to the computer. Foxy fingers move swiftly as he brings up the full plans for the gravity drive.

"I do not have my portable storage device," the hacker crow hisses. "Your manservant destroyed it."

"Miles my 'friend,' you keep a drive of your own on your person do you not?" Kukku asked in a nasty voice. "Would you be so kind as to lend it to us?" Grudgingly Miles reached into a pocket and pulled forth his flash drive, sticking the small device into the computer and copying the necessary files into it.

"I can't put everything on this drive you know," he stated.

"Put what is most important, Prower, I am sure our own scientists can reverse engineer the rest with the working prototype."

"Not bloody likely," Miles muttered under his breath as the files finished copying.

"Now delete the plans from your hard-drive."

"Why?"

"Miles, Miles, Miles, it is simply good business. If we are the only ones who know how to make the GD, it will become all the more valuable, will it not?" Complying with the orders given to him, the fox hands the now fully loaded flash drive to the Battle Bird that had been hacking his system, which the fowl takes with great glee, tucking the small device under his body armor. "Tengu; we have what we came for, withdraw from the building."

"Wait! What about Sonic?" Miles yelled as the three birds began to leave.

"As G.U.N. is coming I have no time to simply hand him over to you, especially from my current position. But worry not my little fur-bearer, we will leave in safety and, once my squadron is a suitable distance from the city, I shall release the hedgehog and you can come collect him."

"Kukku…" the fox began to growl.

"The GREAT COMMANDER Kukku," the bird said in a deadly tone, though Miles took no note of that.

"…if you hurt that boy, I swear there will be no place on this planet, no corner of this globe you'll be able to hide from me." At this declaration, Kukku only smiled.

"I look forward to a second chance to clip your wings, miserable fox."

To be continued...


	6. It's Baaaaack

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… ::Sad Face::

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the _Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

For those loyal fans still waiting to see this story's next chapter, I can only offer my sincerest apologies for how long it took to get this chapter posted. Chalk it up to real life. Chalk it up to my easily distracted nature. Chalk it up to writer's block. Or you can even chalk it up to me being lazy.  I always love multiple choice. Be that as it may, this chapters done and ready go, so I thank everyone who's still with me and look forward to answering your reviews for this chapter. I think I did a pretty good job here though, so I am looking forward to opinions. I do ask that you keep in mind that I know nothing about planes beyond the Tornado. Anyway, enjoy!!

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Present

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"Hey, stop you!" Sonic yelled as he ran after the figure that had so recently decided to pelt his foxy charge with rocks, his teeth gritted in frustration. Though nothing in the world was faster than him on open terrain, inside the back alleys of Station Square, the high-speed hedgehog simply could not get up to his full speed. The fact that his prey was using the uneven terrain to his advantage, twisting and turning down the snow covered alleys, and that he had a rather good head start, made his capture anything but a foregone conclusion.

"Sonic, he went that way," Shadow informed him as the black hedgehog kept pace with his blue rival on his rocket skates. Rocket skates that did not have the limitation of being forced to stick to a single surface. An idea formed in Sonic's mind.

"Shadow, think you can get ahead of him? Cut him off maybe?" Shadow glanced at Sonic, a vicious smile on his face.

"Not even a problem. Chaos Control!" In a flash of light Shadow disappeared, reappearing on the roof of a building. Below him the black hedgehog could make out the form of the Mobian that had attacked Tails as he made his way through the alleys, Sonic in hot pursuit. Silently the Ultimate Lifeform waited, seeking the opportune time to intercept the wretched coward. Catching site of the fleeing being going down a straight alleyway, Shadow made his move.

Meanwhile, Sonic was hopping and leaping onto dumpsters, garbage cans, and even walls in an effort to avoid the slippery ice and snow and catch his quarry. Just ahead of him he could see Tails's assailant as he cast a furtive glance back at his pursuer.

_'That's right jerk, keep your eyes on me,'_ Sonic thought as he matched the fugitive turn for turn. Suddenly, a bright light ignited just ahead of them both and the fleeing attacker suddenly found himself being violently slammed into the wall of one of the buildings making up the alley by none other than Shadow.

"For the record you worthless punk, when someone tells you to 'stop' it doesn't mean run away," Shadow growled as he slammed the creature again for good measure. This last act knocked away the hat he'd been wearing, revealing Tails's attacker to be a crane of all things. Sonic very nearly failed to stop on the ice covered ground as his eyes opened wide in apparent recognition.

"You stupid hedgehog, I think you bruised my ribs!" the crane complained.

"That's not all I should do," Shadow threatened, one hand releasing the bird's shirt collar. "I may be a dirty fighter, but even Eggman wouldn't be low enough to just chuck a rock at some poor kid. I should vaporize your head right here and now." So saying, Shadow's free hand began to glow as he pointed his fist at his captive's head, a vicious grin on his face. "Whaddya say, Sonic, it was your friend he attacked?"

"Take his head off," Sonic said, much to the surprise of Shadow who cast a look at his blue counterpart. Sonic's face held a look of dead seriousness on it.

"Wow," the black hedgehog responded, chuckling as he lifted the crane higher against the wall. "You musta really pissed the faker off; I don't think I've ever heard him hand out a death sentence like that, even to Eggma..."

"You gonna chat with him all day or are you gonna finish him off like you said you were?" Sonic angrily asked, causing Shadow to pause in his movements.

"If you insist," Shadow said as he aimed for the struggling bird's head. Oddly enough, what stopped his murderous motions was not an intervention on the crane's behalf, but a lack of one. Casting a curious glance back at Sonic, Shadow held his attack. "Aren't you going to stop me?"

"Why?"

"Because… that's what you do," Shadow responded, sounding like this was a statement of a defining characteristic for the blue hedgehog. "I'm the one who likes to finish off his enemies, you catch 'em and send them to jail, remember."

"Mr. Bigshot Hero's not as high and mighty as he seems," the crane laughed at them. "Whatsa matter, Olly, still afraid of baths?" Like lightning Shadow's hand clamped down on the crane's long beak.

"Just because I don't plan to kill you now doesn't mean I can't change my mind if you annoy me with your stupid prattle." Turning back towards Sonic, he spoke again. "Come on, we're gonna take this guy to the police." When Sonic failed to move, Shadow cast an agitated glance at the other hedgehog. "Whatever he did Sonic, hurting him now would only cause you and Tails problems. Do you really want that?"

"Fine," Sonic said as he began to follow along.

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13 years ago

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People made light of those who were paralyzed with fear, but as Sonic lay painfully on his side, he could more than understand the expressions meaning. His hands and feet were bound behind his back and one of his arms was going to sleep, the blood flow cut off thanks to the weight of his own body lying on top of it. Before him he could see the body of a rather large, square-jawed crow sitting in a chair, piloting the small aircraft they were in. Shame burned in his cheeks as he recalled this same bird only a few minutes ago using him as a living bargaining chip to force his father to relinquish one of his inventions, a strategy that had worked flawlessly if what one of the bird's subordinates had given him was what Sonic thought it was. Now they were busy flying out of the city, to who knew where, and Sonic was very much feeling fear inside of him.

_'Why didn't I just run away back at school,'_ he thought miserably to himself.

_

* * *

He'd heard the plane's engine as it had buzzed his school, a sound that was just under the clamor of the students cheering for him as he began his run of the obstacle course. The game had been interrupted as the jet suddenly buzzed the school, firing its guns directly at the building to cause a panic amongst the children below. And cause a panic it did. No one liked being shot at with live ammunition and, as they watched the bullets suddenly chewing up the bricks of their school, the children had begun to scatter, running in terror in all directions to get away from what they correctly perceived as a threat. Having never been in a situation where his death was a very possible outcome, Sonic's eyes had widened and he'd screamed rushing with the herd of youngsters to safety. To their credit, the teachers watching them had not been idle, quickly herding the children back into the relative safety of the school. As the sound of the plane returning came to his ears, Sonic noticed a young girl suddenly stumble, crying loudly as she held her foot._

_Revving up his feet as fast as he could, Sonic had raced over to the girl, grabbing her so he could get her inside. His own small size and lack of muscle had meant he was actually just pulling her along, and not altogether gently if the girl's yelp was any indicator. Still the hedgehog had been able to get them both back inside before the attacking plane could make another pass on the play ground._

_Inside the cafeteria, the children huddled together around the tables, afraid to go too near the glass windows. One of the teachers had run to go call the police, only to return saying that the phone lines were all dead. It was at that point that the sound of a loud engine parking itself outside came to everyone's ears, the plane had landed in the playground, and a large black bird had gotten out, approaching the school with a nasty look in his eye. A sharp kick was enough to open the door the teachers hadn't bothered to lock, not willing to give some psychopath an excuse to shatter glass with a gun._

_"I, the Great Commander Kukku, am looking for some one," the bird said as he stared first at the adults, and then at the children. "A young boy is here that I am interested in giving a ride to, a blue hedgehog." At the description that matched him, Sonic suddenly found himself being shoved down to the ground and under a table by Mighty, with Ray and Carl moving to stand in front of him, obscuring him from the bird. _

_"Sir, I must ask you to leave," one of the teachers said, approaching what was now obviously a crow with his arms raised in a sign of surrender. "This is a school and what you are doing is most…"_

_"You are not the blue hedgehog," Kukku had said before firing the gun in his hand into the man's chest. As the human's corpse fell to the ground before them, the children had begun screaming, the remaining adults trying desperately to calm them before their cries caused the gunman to do something nasty. "I am looking for a hedgehog, produce him for me, or I will leave none of you alive."_

_From his hiding place, Sonic had quivered in fear. He'd had no idea why this bird wanted him, and he didn't really feel like finding out. Carefully he'd looked about for a door he could zip out of. _

_"If the hedgehog will not come forward, than I have no choice but to go through each and every one of you to find him," the bird had said as he'd stomped over to the students, roughly knocking away a teacher as she tried to intercept him. Reaching a hand out into the crowd, Kukku had taken hold of a young chinchilla boy, hefting him into the air by the scruff of his neck. "You are not the hedgehog," Kukku had responded as he'd pointed his gun at the boy's head._

_"Wait!" Sonic had shouted, forcing his way out from behind Ray so he could become perfectly visible to the crow. "Wait, I'm here, I'm over here!" Kukku had cast a lazy eye out over the crowd to catch sight of the blue quills._

_"Over here, now," the crow had said, shaking his gun in the chinchilla's face, "or he dies because of you." Quickly the children had tried to part ways to let Sonic through as the scared hedgehog had moved slowly over to the bird. "Olgilvie Prower, correct?" Kukku had asked as Sonic had nodded in the affirmative. Hurling his previous hostage back into the crowd, the giant bird had roughly grabbed the hedgehog's throat and beat a hasty retreat back to his plane, much to the adults' and children's combined relief… and distress. Once at the plane, the bird had taken a length of rope and painfully jerked Sonic's hands behind his back, tying him hand and foot before tossing him into plane like so much baggage. Sonic remembered pain as his unprotected chin had hit the floor behind the pilot's seat and terror as the bird had gotten in with him. Too frightened to say anything, silence only had come from the hedgehog as the plane had taken off. _

Thus had young Olgilvie been roped into the predicament Tails had found him in as the Battle Bird Armada had attacked Prower Aerodynamic's building. He hadn't meant to cry out the way he had when he'd seen the elder fox, a baby begging for help and putting himself above everything else, but he'd just been so scared at the time. Now it seemed all that had served to do was convince his father to capitulate to Kukku's demands, if the happy grin on the bird's beak was any indication.

* * *

"This is the Great Commander Kukku, calling Imperial War Tengu carrier Shrike, do you copy?" the bird called into his radio.

"This is Captain Torp of the Shrike, have you acquired your target."

"Yes, my squadron and I are winging our way towards you as we speak, we should be there in less than two hours, though if you can cut down that time…"

"We will not be violating Station Square's waters, Commander…"

"_Great_ Commander," Kukku corrected, though if the Captain heard him, he ignored it.

"…you will just have to make it to us."

"Very well, I will only need to dispose of some… excess baggage before I rendezvous with you. Out." Of course such words did not fail to gain the attention of Sonic, who stared at his captor with a rather worried look on his face.

"You… you told Tails you'd let me go if he gave you that weapon!" the young hedgehog protested. Kukku looked back at his now useless hostage, a kindly smile on his face.

"And I will be true to my word. Once we are safely out of G.U.N.'s jurisdiction and ability to freely attack us, I shall let you go," at this point the smile became quite sinister, "right into the ocean below. How you get back to your furry fool father is none of my concern Olgilvie." Sonic's fear filled eyes widened again in shock.

"But… but I don't swim so well," Sonic protested.

"My advice, little hedgehog, is to kick your legs very hard and hope you don't attract sharks."

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Station Square was in an uproar as G.U.N. vehicles made their way into the city, headed straight for the building belonging to the company known as Prower Aerodynamic. Citizens who had seen the attack on the building were being herded away from the scene to prevent them from getting run over, and to take their statements for later. Planes were being scrambled from the nearest airbase, as well as one of G.U.N.'s massive but lumbering airships, but with such a head start it would be difficult to find the culprits. So distracting was the presence of the G.U.N. units that few of the people watching had noticed the streak of orange that had shot out of the tower, making its way swiftly towards a private hanger at the city's airfield. That had been almost twenty minutes ago.

Currently, the cause of the orange streak was moving at top speed over to his red plane, performing a quick check as the engine warmed up in preparation for flight. Miles Prower was nobody's fool, particularly when it came to Battle Birds, especially the ones named Kukku. He knew exactly what Sonic's chances were if the cruel crow was able to outmaneuver G.U.N.'s eventual pursuit. Quickly he put on his flight goggles as he hopped into the pilot's seat, ready to take off. It was then that he noticed his runway was somewhat blocked by a familiar looking deer standing in his path.

"Mr. Prower, you are aware G.U.N. has issued an order grounding all non-military craft, are you not," Michael Cervid said as the two tailed fox's mind boggled over how his personal assistant always managed to be everywhere he was.

"Good for them, that'll keep people out of the skies who don't belong there so they don't get hurt," Tails responded, the look on his face very much resolved to begin the plane moving forward.

"I do believe the order was more given with a certain daredevil vulpine in mind sir," the hoofed Mobian said, not budging an inch.

"Michael, they have my son," Tails protested.

"I know sir, and G.U.N. is doing everything in its power to bring Sonic back to you."

"It won't be enough, you know that," the fox pointed out. "I'm asking you to please move out of my way. I can't waste anymore time."

"If you are determined in this course of action sir," Cervid said, his normally stoic voice tainted by the sounds of worry, "then I suppose I can only ask that you at least exercise caution when you catch up to them, Kukku may be a coward and bully, but he is still a dangerous opponent in the air." So saying the deer moved out of the way of the Tornado, allowing the plane to pass. "I shall notify G.U.N. of your actions, sir. They'll most likely not be happy about it but at least they won't shoot you down by accident."

"Good idea," the fox called down as his plane began to move forward, allowing him to flash his assistant an "OK" hand gesture. As he watched his possibly soon-to-be-late employer, Michael Cervid could not help the worried look on his face.

"Good luck to you sir," he said as the Tornado began to rise into the air.

Inside the cockpit, Miles put the plane on autopilot. He needed some time to work and, as he couldn't do anything himself until he got out of the city limits, all the Tornado V had to do was fly in a straight line. Idly he wished he had had the time to do this on the ground, messing with the electrical system of a flying airplane was not a smart move, but time was of the essence. Carefully he was hooking up the personal communicator Kukku had used to talk to him to the Tornado's own radio system. The small device had been getting a signal directly from the Commander's own plane, and with such being the case, Miles could rig his own communications equipment and sensors to piggyback off the signal and could easily track down Kukku's plane… and that was the only one he truthfully cared about finding. But time was of the essence.

He'd recognized the planes the Battle Birds had used, short range strikers, built to hit a target and leave before anything could retaliate, the same ships Kukku had used when he'd attempted to take over the Aerial Dogfight Competition before. If G.U.N. could catch up the seven Battle Bird crafts before they were able to rendezvous with whatever carrier had gotten them close enough to assault Prower Aerodynamic, Kukku's squadron would have no chance of taking the better armed and armored G.U.N. planes. But that was a mighty big if, especially with the head start the raiders had managed to grab.

Soon the red biplane had made its way past the limits of the city, heading in the direction the Battle Birds had last been seen. His modifications complete, Miles looked down at a red button sitting just an inch or two lower than his seat between his legs, covered by a plastic casing to prevent it from accidentally being touched. Reaching down, the fox opened the casing and jammed his hand on the button. A glass shield rose about the cockpit of the Tornado as, on its tail, two cylinders were pushed out; rockets. The propeller of the plane stopped its rotation as hidden hinges inside of its central point bent the three blades backwards against the engine. The young pilot cast a worried glance at the wings of his plane. So far he'd been unable to complete the designs for the entire transformation process of his plane, which meant that utilizing its jet engines would most likely cause a certain amount of stress damage to the wings.

_'Can't be helped,'_ Miles thought as he engaged the thrusters. Like a rocket the plane shot forward, heading in the direction indicated by the communicator's signal.

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Kukku felt good, he very much did. Nothing like a successfully completed to make a bird feel young again, especially when that mission was carried out against a hated enemy. The only thing that would have made this all the better would have been not to have a little brat sniffling in the background.

_'Bah, I'll be rid of the little pincushion soon enough,'_ Kukku reasoned, determined not to allow the annoying sound to ruin his happiness. Casually the big crow cast a glance at the other six planes in his squadron. _'Maybe I'll set my plane on autopilot for a while and engage one of the men in a bit of wing poker,'_ he thought, taking advantage of the fact that all Battle Bird planes had the ability to link together wingtip to wingtip. It came in handy if one of the planes became crippled and needed to be repaired without stopping; two of its squad mates could easily carry the damaged plane between them while the pilots made repairs.

As Kukku's eyes finally settled on a likely pigeon to play, a startling sound came to his nonexistent earlobes; that of a machine gun rapidly firing its bullets. Said bullets appeared like a swarm of angry hornets, tearing into the right wing of the plane Kukku had been looking at just moments ago. Quickly the attacked aircraft began to spiral downward, the loss of its wing destroying its ability to fly. As the Battle Bird fell, a red biplane shot past, a familiar orange figure sitting in its cockpit as it tilted to the side and began to turn.

"I've found you Kukku," Miles's voice yelled over the crow's comm. speaker.

"Prower!? What are you doing here?"

"I want my son back you ratty flying feather duster! Give me back Sonic or so help me I'll send you all down in flames!"

"You dare to make threats of…" Whatever the squadron commander was preparing to say was cut off as the Tornado made another pass, flying straight at the startled Battle Birds and firing its guns again. "Attention all fighters, BLAST THAT PLANE OUT OF THE SKY!!" Commander Kukku screamed as he pulled his own plane into a turn.

"Commander, our orders are to return to the carrier as quickly as possible. If we engage Prower now, G.U.N. will no doubt be able to catch…"

"I do not care what our orders are; I will not be made a fool of by that fox again!" Kukku commanded as his weapons screen, came up. "Besides, if we don't do something, Prower will simply pick us off one by one."

"You beak-faced weirdoes are going down," Sonic said as some of his confidence returned and his fear began to ebb. Knowing that his dad was here helped somewhat. Of course it didn't completely omit the fact that he was currently in one of the planes that might get shot down. Silently he hoped Tails would see him in time.

Outside, Miles Prower pulled his plane up into a cloud bank, as he was being chased by the Battle Birds. The more maneuverable and faster Tornado could have flown rings around the Tengus' little planes; the Battle Birds had practically been raised from birth on the concepts of coordinated aerial dog fighting. Miles could not afford to waste time dispatching his opponents, lest they manage to corral his plane and shoot him down.

Quickly the vulpine aviator pulled out of the cloud bank's side, turning the tornado in mid-air as he made a beeline for the largest of the six remaining Battle Bird plane; the one undoubtedly occupied by Kukku.

"Trust that stupid bird to sacrifice speed and maneuverability for extra armor so he can take hits," the fox quipped as he approached. "Of course, given that Sonic's probably in there with him, that's actually something to be thankful for." The sound of engines coming closer came to his ears. "Okay, Prower, we need a plan."

As the Battle Birds closed in on the Tornado, the red biplane tilted upwards into the air, its own engine pouring on the power as it attempted to get behind its pursuers. Never ones to back down from a challenge, the crow Mobians followed in pursuit. The Tornado wove in and out as it avoided the gunfire of the Battle Birds, their bullets whizzing by the fox pilot like angry bees. Suddenly, the Tornado began to turn to its side as it rose in the air, making a complete one hundred eighty degree turn as its nose suddenly pointed down, and flying straight at the pursuing squadron at fantastic speeds. As the planes scattered in an attempt o avoid a mid-air collision, Tails released some of his missiles. Thus it was that as he shot past the squadron, two of the Battle Birds found themselves colliding with the explosive weapons. The remaining Tengu quickly recovered, turning their planes around to give chase to the Tornado, guns blazing at the red biplane. Once more it was headed for the large aircraft that carried Kukku in it. This time, rather than wait for the two tailed fox to attack, the Battle Bird instead charged forward his own guns blazing and quite confident his more heavily armored plane would easily survive a midair collision with the Tornado. Suddenly the propellers pulling the Tornado forward stopped their rotation, and the plane suddenly dropped from the sky like a stone. In that instant, Kukku found himself pointed right at his wing mates and the large bird scrambled to pull his plane out of an accidental collision. Rather than go up, however, Kukku decided to head downward, tailing the two tailed fox. At some point Miles would have to break out of his dive, and when he did, Kukku would be there to punish him for his arrogance.

Just as the Battle Bird commander predicted, young Prower did indeed pull out of his dive, turning his plane straight up and again seeming to charge at Kukku. This time Kukku was ready, aiming his guns on the Tornado as the red plane spun at him.

"Take this you treacherous freak!" Kukku yelled as he let fly with his guns, a nasty smile on his face as he watched the bullets tear into the Tornado. Despite this damage the Tornado continued on, though Kukku could see smoke coming from the plane. "This is Great Commander Kukku to all fighters. I have hit the hated fox's plane. Your orders are to take him out." Behind him, the crow could hear a cry of despair, no doubt from the hedgehog he still had tied up in back of his plane. Mentally the crow decided that, once Miles Prower's plane was sufficiently scrapped, he'd toss the hedgehog amongst the wreckage to be with his furry fool father.

The sound of propellers came to the bird's ears and he looked about to see the sight of the red biplane as it was being chased by the rest of the Battle Birds. Kukku watched as the Tornado zipped by, a savage glee in his heart as he tried to catch sight of the cockpit, hoping to see a bullet riddled Miles Prower hanging limply inside. Instead what he saw was the ruined upholstery of the pilot's seat, but no orange fox inside at all.

_'Where did he go?!&_ Kukku thought furiously as turned his plane a bit to look at the water below, hoping to see Miles's body falling through the sky and into the ocean below. It was an immense surprise for him then when a wrench suddenly slammed down on the glass windshield of his cockpit, shattering the glass and sending shards flying into the Battle Bird's face. White gloves held the wrench, belonging to a seriously angry looking fox that was quickly working his way into the plane.

"Are you insane?!" Kukku screamed as he struggled to keep control of his craft, all the while trying to find some weapon to attack the obviously deranged fox with.

"Just a little bit," Tails retorted as he brought the wrench down again, this time intending to cave in Kukku's skull the same way he'd done to the cockpit glass. Kukku's arm moved just quick enough to catch the tool before it could hit him, his other arm working to keep control of his plane. As Miles began to overpower him, the large bird abandoned his plane's controls, not about to let himself be defeated by his sworn enemy. For his part Miles worked on getting into a more defensible position. Though strong enough to match his avian opponent physically, even a child could see that it wouldn't take much to shift his weight and throw the fox from the airplane.

"Dad!" Sonic yelled suddenly, catching his adoptive father's attention. Unfortunately, this proved a distraction as Kukku used the vulpine's loss of concentration to deliver a vicious jab to Miles's mid-section. Sonic squeaked as he realized he'd just inadvertently helped his father's enemy.

"Commander Kukku, the fox is not in his plane," a voice crackled over Kukku's comm. radio. With the threat of Miles temporarily removed, the War Tengu leader activated his microphone.

"He is on my plane. Zero in on me, for he will soon become an airborne targ-AAAAAHHHH!" Having recovered from the Battle Bird's attack, Tails had reached back into the cockpit grabbing Kukku's arms and using his own weight to pull the crow halfway out of his seat, and slam him down, driving the jagged edges of the shattered cockpit glass into the Mobian's gut. Scrambling over the injured bird, Tails reached for Sonic, grabbing hold of the ropes that bound the young hedgehog.

"Are you okay?" Miles asked as he worked to untie his son. Sonic could only nod his head slightly as he felt his bindings loosen. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"Look out!" he screamed, just in time to warn his savior of the wrench coming down to crack him in the skull. Miles shifted his weight just in time to avoid the deadly strike from Kukku who had appropriated both his opponent's weapon and attack pattern.

"Miserable mammal, do you think you can defeat me so easily?"

"I'd hoped," Miles responded as he aimed a sharp kick at the bird's knee. While the joint did not break, it did buckle as pain shot through Kukku's leg. Sonic wiggled as far into the back as he could, not wishing to be pulled into the cramped battlefield of the two combatants if he could help it. Unfortunately the plane, lacking a pilot and still being buffeted by the winds, was making this a difficult task as it rocked back and forth through the air. Thus it was that, as Miles grappled with Kukku, Sonic found himself struck by the fell crow's head as he was forced to the ground. Taking his chance, Sonic opened his mouth and his jaws suddenly clamped onto the bird Mobian's shoulder, biting deeply. Kukku howled in pain and anger, unable to attend to the striking hedgehog as the fox on top of him continued to punch him. Inspiration struck the raider as he stretched a foot out to strike the control stick of the plane, forcing the craft into a dive and through the fox off of him.

Miles let out a pained yelp as his back crashed into the controls of the plane, followed by a second cry as Kukku slammed into him as well. A malicious grin spread over the bird's beak as his hands reached up to clasp around the vulpine's neck and squeeze.

"You are weak, you are pathetic, you are… OW!!!" Kukku's tirade was thankfully cut short as a sharp pain shot up his leg. Beneath him, the still bound up Sonic had managed to wiggle up next to his leg and deliver a sharp bite. Glaring daggers down at the boy whose jaws were clamped firmly on his calf, the Battle Bird Commander used his other foot to roughly kick the boy in the head, trying to dislodge him before he could break the scaly skin and actually draw blood. Though as an attack Sonic's actions proved a dismal failure, as a distraction they were effective enough to grant Miles the time he needed to recover, raking his claws across the bird's face and leaving four bloody gashes in his wake. Quickly using a tail to correct the plane's course, Miles pressed his attack and kicked off of the control console, pushing Kukku backwards. Sonic tucked as best he could to keep the crow's feet from finding purchase and thus forcing him to fall backwards. Kukku grunted as he banged into the back of the cockpit. Quickly he pulled his leg up, paying Miles back for his earlier work with the glass by digging his sharp foot talons into his enemy's stomach. Already tender from the punch it had taken earlier, the fox's white furred tummy sent waves of agony to his brain as its soft flesh was cut. Reacting to the attack, the resilient fox knocked the leg away and made another slash with his claws, this time aiming for Kukku's exposed neck. He missed as the crow's arm came to block and he began to stand again, grappling with the fox.

Sonic, who'd been watching this occur since the battle had left his side of the cockpit, began to try to wiggle over again, hoping to deliver another bite to his kidnapper's leg, or maybe even jam a few quills into it. Though not barbed like a porcupine, his own defenses were plenty sharp enough to hurt, even dulled as they had been for school. Before he could make it over to the battle, the plane jarred again as the Battle Bird Squadron passed it over, hoping for some way to aid their commander in his efforts to get rid of the young CEO. The motion of the plane threw both bird and fox up in the air to land roughly on the aircraft's back. Again Kukku grunted as he landed on his back with Miles on top of him, but this time his grunt was followed by a smile as he was now in the more defensible position. Quickly he tried to roll the fox of and let gravity send Miles falling to the ground, but his opponent, well aware of the precarious position he was in, was quick to spread out his legs and keep himself stable.

Suddenly, triangular ears perked up as the sound of multiple engines came to them. Quickly Miles scrambled off of Kukku, who himself quickly shuffled out of the way, as a spray of bullets began to perforate the section of the plane they'd been on.

"You IDIOTS!" Kukku screamed. "Are you TRYING to hit me as well?!" Angrily the Battle Bird Commander looked back at his opponent, an almost predatory gleam in his eyes. This battle had gone on long enough. Reaching into his belt he drew forth a small survival knife. Though not a preferred weapon, in a pinch it would no doubt do for getting rid of an annoying fox. Angrily he charged the vulpine, the handle of his blade clutched in his hand as he gave a swipe Miles had to work to avoid. Revving up his tails as quickly as he could, Miles sidestepped the attack, using a quick burst of aerial speed to get himself back onto the solid surface of the plane.

"Come on Kukku, you can do better than that," Miles called, attempting to bait the bird into making a mistake.

"I told you before Prower, I am the GREAT COMMANDER Kukku!!" the pilot screamed, charging the fox again. This time possessing a warning, Miles ducked down and kicked to the legs out from under the Imperial War Tengu pilot, causing him to fall hard to the surface of the plane. Before Kukku could find purchase and scramble back to his feet, his feathered body began to slide. With an angry scream the cruel battle bird lost his hold on the plane and Miles watched as he fell off.

Contented that his opponent was out of his fur, the two tailed fox moved quickly over the cockpit.

"You okay Sonic?" he called down to the hedgehog.

"I… I think so," Sonic responded, still lying on the floor all bound up. "I'd really like to go home now if you don't mind!"

"Gotcha, just let me get at those controls and I'll turn this clunker aro… Geeze!!" Just in time Miles threw himself into the cockpit to avoid another round of gunfire courtesy of the Battle Bird Squadron. Looking up, the fox could only watch as they made a tight turn, ready to come back and finish the job. More gunshots were heard, but this time it was the tengu whose planes were attacked, by the forces of G.U.N. no less. Miles's attack on the squadron had caused them to forget they were under a time limit and now G.U.N.'s carrier had made it on the scene. "'Bout time those boys got here," Miles said sarcastically as he went back to trying to get control of Kukku's craft. His efforts were halted, however, when a sharp pain came to his shoulder, courtesy of the blade that had been stuck into it.

"No!" Sonic yelled as he watched Kukku suddenly pounce on his father, driving his knife into the kitsune's shoulder.

"Did you miss me my furry little troublemaker?" Kukku asked as wrenched Miles out of the pilot's seat. Though the fall had caught him by surprise, Kukku was not without his own method of personal flight and he'd been able to stay aloft long enough to catch hold of his vehicle again, thus enabling him to sneak up upon Miles. The blade still lodged in his shoulder, all the fox could see was a white haze of pain as he was sent into the walls of the cockpit. Chuckling to himself, Kukku gazed at the prone form for a moment. "Your comrades in G.U.N. have arrived to gut my forces it would seem. But, though my mission is a failure YOU will not enjoy your victory." So saying the crow moved, not for Miles, but for Sonic, grabbing hold of the boy by the ropes that bound him.

"Let me go you feathered creep!" Sonic yelled as he was held aloft.

"Put him down Kukku," Miles called, standing as best he could with his injuries. "Sonic's got nothing to do with this. Your fight is with me."

"Then you shouldn't have gotten in my way!" So saying Kukku lifted Sonic over his head and sent him hurtling down to the waters below.

"SONIC!" Miles yelled as he raced over, trying to catch the blue kitten before he got too far. Failing that, the fox too jumped over, determined to catch the hedgehog. cerulean eyes darted about as the air rushed past him, searching for the dark blue figure, a task made much harder by the dark blue color of the ocean below them. Finally he managed to spot Sonic, revving up his tails again to increase the speed of his fall to catch up with the much lower kid. Always one to think a few steps ahead, the vulpine reached down to touch one of the buttons on his wristwatch, activating a tracking beacon in it. If the Tornado was still around, and able to fly, it would hopefully home in on the beacon. That taken care of, the fox turned his attention back to Sonic.

From his point of view Sonic was very much having a bad day, made so much worse by the sight of the ocean rushing up to meet him. Desperately struggling to free himself of his bonds, the young hedgehog was quite on the verge of panicking as he fell through the air.

_'Come on Sonic, get it together. Its water, not like it's gonna hurt,'_ Sonic tried to convince himself. _'Oh man, oh man, oh man I don't wanna die!!'_ With a loud splash, Sonic hit the water, falling deep beneath the surface. For a few seconds he remained still, the bone-jarring pain of his impact with the water's surface clouding out his mind. His skin stung all over, a sting that was only exacerbated by the salinity of the ocean water. Still he managed to open his eyes a bit and recover, wincing as the salt began to sting his sensitive eyes as well. Writhing and wiggling in his bonds, Sonic began to try to make his way to the surface, the lack of a breath before he entered the water causing his lungs to begin to burn as he struggled not to breathe. While it was indeed a valiant effort, the little hedgehog's restrained body just couldn't make the distance to the surface before his oxygen ran out, his mouth opening in a desperate attempt to take in air that was not there and releasing what was left of his own air as he began to lose consciousness. Slowly the now soaked mammalian Mobian's body began to sink back into the murky depths below, his mind only barely registering it as something reached around his chest.

Miles had hit the water only a few seconds after Sonic, though his entry had been far more controlled and prepared. Sliding into the ocean like a diver, the fox had not been subjected to the same pains his son had been, though the wound in his shoulder did not in any way appreciate the sudden exposure to salt water. Forcing his mind past that, he began the daunting task of trying to find Sonic again, hampered once more by the fact that the hedgehog's quills were close enough to the color of his surroundings.

_'We get outta this I swear I'm gonna dye that kid's fur neon green or something,'_ Miles swore in half desperation. Finally his eyes locked onto the trail of bubbles that escaped Sonic's mouth. Twisting his tails to propel him forward, Miles moved as fast as he could over to the hedgehog, grabbing him around the chest before adjusting his trajectory to take them both to the surface.

"GAAAAH!!" Sonic called as his head broke through to fresh air, his body working on automatic to fill his lungs with the precious gas known as oxygen. Beside him Miles too surfaced, using both his tails and his legs in coordination to keep them both above water. A hand went to the hedgehog's back as Miles patted him, helping him to expel the obstructive liquid.

"You still with me kid?" Miles asked as Sonic gave a weak nod, his bound hands unable to give his customary thumbs up. Above them, a new aerial battle raged as the forces of the Imperial War Tengu tried desperately to escape the forces of G.U.N. It was the largest plane that caught the fox's attention however. Kukku had been watching for them to surface. Like malicious lightning the crow dove, firing his guns at the pair. Waterlogged now, Miles knew he couldn't fly, especially with Sonic's additional weight; so instead he made a quick dive, narrowly avoiding the spray of bullets.

_'We're sitting ducks as long as we're in this water,'_ Miles reasoned to himself as he quickly surfaced again, making sure Sonic was covered by above water. _'I gotta get rid of this clown before he gets us, but how?'_ A sudden beeping came to the vulpine's attention then, the proximity alarm in his watch signaling the Tornado was nearing his position. Glancing at the watch and then glaring at Kukku as he performed a turn for another run, an idea formed in his head.

"Sonic, I need you to try to tread water without me for a while," he told his son. Sonic's eyes widened as he looked at his dad.

"What? W-W-Why?"

"I have to do something and you'll be safer if you're not near me."

"No! No, don't leave me, please don't leave me Dad. I'll drown." A hand reached down to the hedgehog's body and broke enough of the rope to free his limbs.

"Not now Sonic, you have to do this. Just kick you're legs as hard as you can."

"NO… I…" His pleas fell on deaf ears as the fox pushed the hedgehog away just in time to get into position as Kukku came for a second run. Twisting his tails as tightly as he could, Miles prepared himself for the inevitable.

Inside his plane, Kukku was almost cackling with glee. Not only was the hated fox helpless, he'd separated from the youth. Now not only would he get the pleasure of finally killing Miles Prower, the last thing the fox would know as he died would be that he'd failed his spiky son. Carefully he took aim at the glaring vulpine.

"Now you die, Prower!" he yelled as he fired his guns again. Rather than try to dive again, Miles surprised Kukku by rocketing into the air for a short distance, his arm pulling back before he threw something at the passing plane. Kukku laughed derisively as he saw it, particularly as he noticed a sudden spray of foxy blood appear as one of his bullets caught the pretentious businessmobian in the side.

'Excellent. Now if it is not my bullets that take his life, the sharks will have a feast instead,' the evil bird thought nastily as he glanced behind him to see his target fall back into the water. That was when he noticed something else. The object the fox had thrown at him had apparently been a wristwatch, one that had made it into the cockpit with him. For a second the bird considered whether or not his adversary had lost his mind. Then he looked up and released a scream. Miles's plane, the Tornado, homing in on the signal coming from the watch, was headed right for him. Thinking quickly Kukku grabbed the control stick of his plane and turned, trying to avoid the oncoming traffic. Even without a pilot, however, the Tornado followed his movements. Desperately the bird tried to move his damaged plane out of the way, but the craft was simply not up to the task.

In the water below, the injured Miles smiled with grim satisfaction as he watched the two planes crash into each other with a loud explosion. Wasting no time, lest the falling debris strike him, he swam as best he could over to Sonic catching up the boy who had struggled his best to stay above water.

"Don't ever do that again," Sonic yelled at the fox as he gathered the boy up, a look of terror on his face as he completely stopped moving for himself, his entire weight coming onto his father's weakened muscles. Grunting a little, Miles signaled him to be silent.

"We need to get to the G.U.N. carrier Sonic, and we need to do it quick," he said, feeling it as the wound in his side was beginning to sap his strength completely.

"Ahoy there!" called a voice as the sound of a motorboat came to the two Mobians' ears.

"Ahoy! Ahoy! AHOY!!" Sonic mimicked, wiggling about as he shook his arms and tried to attract some attention. The G.U.N. carrier had apparently noted their descent, and the Tornado's crash, and sent out a lifeboat to investigate. Miles grunted a bit as he was repeatedly stuck with Sonic's quills, struggling to keep a hold of the hedgehog and keep them both about water. Soon the life boat made its way to them and Miles gingerly handed up Sonic to the seamen before accepting help getting himself up.

"Careful with the fox, he's been shot," one of the three sailors said they handed both Mobians blankets to help banish the cold ocean water. "Don't jostle him too much of the Captain will have our hides."

"Miles Prower?" another of the sailors asked. Miles slowly nodded his head, his weakened muscles protesting the movement. "Base said you were out here too. The Captain is gonna wanna have a few words with you." Again Miles nodded.

"First we're gonna need some help," Miles pointed out. "Is there a doctor on your ship?"

"Yes sir."

"Good… because I don't… think I'm gonna be much… for… con… ver… sation…." At this the exhausted fox's eyes closed as he finally slipped into unconsciousness.

To be Continued….


	7. Chapter 7

Reversion

by Asher Tye

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Sonic, I own nothing of Tails, I own nothing typically recognized as belonging to Sega. I wish I did, but I don't… ::Sad Face::

Author's Note: Merlin's Disease is not a real disease, but I do feel I should give credit to my source anyway, Dan Simmons who wrote the _Hyperion_ _Cantos_ series. I've changed the characteristics of the sickness somewhat, but as Hyperion is where I first encountered it, I don't want to step on any toes. I should also point out that this story jumps back and forth between the past and the present. I'll provide break-ups for it, but I hope it isn't too confusing.

Yeah, it took me less time to upload this one. Now I'm going to tell you this gets awfully emotional near the end, so be prepared to cry. Enjoy.

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Present

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Meanwhile, back at the street, Tails now sat in the back of an ambulance a good Samaritan had summoned upon witnessing the kit being struck by the rock, one of the EMTs checking him for signs of concussion while a bandage was wrapped around his head. The cut the rock had made had been bleeding a lot, but it was more or less superficial, more a tearing of the scalp over breaking any actual muscle. Nearby Amy looked on worriedly. The EMT said the injury wasn't that bad, the fox didn't even look like he needed stitches, but they had to check him over anyway to make sure he didn't need any further attention. But Amy still held a look of worry on her face as she wondered what was taking Sonic so long.

"Okay sweetie now I need you to look into the flashlight so I can check your eyes, all right?" the female EMT said. Tails nodded slightly as he obeyed the adult's command.

"How does he look?" Amy asked, wringing her hands as she did so.

"It doesn't look like he has anything more than a mild concussion," woman answered. "He seems okay for someone hit by a rock. Is there any pain Tails?"

"The cut stings," the fox responded before he continued helpfully. "I'm seeing things all right now though."

"What happened here?" A new voice asked as a police officer got out of his patrol car, no doubt also summoned by the same good Samaritan.

"I saw the whole thing officer," one of the on-lookers said, walking up to the policeman. "This guy threw a rock at that poor kid, hit him right in the head. Assault if ever I did see it."

"Did anyone get a good look at the perpetrator?" the uniformed human asked as he pulled out a notepad and pen, licking the writing implement before putting its tip to the paper.

"I think he was a tall person, but he ran off before I could get a good look," someone offered. Through the crowd similar murmurings were made. Apparently for such a well witnessed event, few people had actually had a clear view of the instigator. Sensing that this was going to go nowhere fast, Amy decided it was time to intervene.

"My boyfriend and another friend are chasing after the guy who did this already officer. If you could stick around for a while, I'm sure they'll both be back soon." It was at this point that the officer took a good look at not only Amy, but the fox kit sitting complacently in the back of the ambulance.

"Wait a minute… You wouldn't happened to be Amy Rose and Tails would you?"

"Oh, you recognize me," Amy said happily, more than a little flattered at being so famous.

"Then that would make the boyfriend…"

"Sonic Hedgehog," the rose colored Mobian confirmed, the smile on her face only growing broader. After years of relentless pursuit, it was simply wonderful to hear people connect herself and Sonic as a couple, even if Sonic still got somewhat embarrassed by the terminology. That was when she remembered another important bit of information the policeman would probably want to know about. "Oh, and the friend is Shadow Robotnik." At this point the officer's own smile vanished and a look of concern came to his face.

"Uh… should I be calling for a containment unit or something?"

"No no no no no," Amy was very quick to assure the officer. Though Shadow had calmed down over the years, it was very likely suddenly being confronted by a small army of police would probably cause him to become less so, and the last thing Amy wanted was to see parts of Station Square reduced to smoldering rubble. "Trust me, he's only here by coincidence, and he's helping us."

"Well… he doesn't have any outstanding warrants on him, and standard procedure is not to antagonize him so…"

"I think that's a very good idea," Shadow suddenly said as he, Sonic, and a third individual, a Mobian crane, appeared out of the alley, Shadow giving the crane a rough shove forward to keep him moving. "If you boys in blue had had that policy a few years ago, we wouldn't have had as many problems as we did."

"If memory serves, you were an amnesiac working for the Eggman," Amy pointed out with a sly smile. "I somehow doubt we would have been any better off." That was when the she-hog noticed the hateful look on her blue beau's face, a look that was directed at the two hedgehogs' prisoner. "Sonic, what's wrong with you?" she asked. She'd expected the cobalt quickster to be angry with the one who'd attacked his friend, but this was a whole new level than what she'd expected.

"What's the matter is the baby hedgehog doesn't know how to separate personal from business matters," the crane quipped, causing Sonic to take an angry step towards him. It was only Shadow's presence between the two that kept Sonic from attacking.

"If you don't want me to let Sonic off his leash, crane, I suggest you shut your beak up," Shadow threatened. The crane let out an annoyed grunt.

"The name is Scranton, you over-charged science project, DOCTOR Scranton and... AHH!!" The crane's litany was cut off as the promised attack came, not from Sonic, but from Tails. The orange fox had leapt from the ambulance, his tails twirling madly to allow him to cover the distance in a single bound in order to punch the derelict doctor in the face.

"GRAH!!" Tails yelled as he knocked the Mobian to the ground, punching and biting at him while Scranton tried to use his own arms to deflect the kit's assault.

"Get him off of me! Get him OFF of ME!" he screamed as he tried to strike the fox and knock him off his chest. The officer moved forward to restrain the boy, but was beaten to the punch by Sonic who quickly grabbed his charge about the middle before the cop could. His original goal already taken care of, the officer instead grabbed the crane. "I wanna press charges! I demand you arrest that little menace."

"Just try it you double crossin' creep!" Sonic yelled back as he held Tails. "I'd love to split you like a badnik."

"Sonic calm down," Shadow said in a no nonsense voice. It was unfamiliar territory for the black hedgehog to be playing the role of peacemaker, but he wasn't about to let Sonic and Tails be split up just because the blue blur couldn't keep his temper around this crane. "You're not helping anyone here. Maybe you and Tails should leave before you accidentally given him more ammunition to use against you. He's still gotta answer for throwing that rock at Tails."

"That's right Olgilvie, run away and cry back on Emerald Hill," Scranton called.

"Will you just shut up!" Amy and the cop said in unison, much to both of their surprise.

"Look Mr…"

"DOCTOR!"

"Fine, Dr. Scranton," the cop said as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and began to wrap them around the crane's wrists. "Like Shadow over there said, you're still in it deep for throwing a rock at a kid's head, much less one with the reputation Mr. Prower here has, so I'm gonna take you downtown to the station. You're just lucky Tails is all right. Don't know what could've possessed you to throw rocks at someone like him, you had to know Sonic would catch you."

"That freakshow fox ruined my life!" Scranton yelled. It was only Shadow's quick reflexes that prevented Sonic from attacking the crane again.

"You ruined your own life you loser traitor!" Sonic screamed back as he fought hopelessly against Sonic's grip. Though the blue hedgehog had frequently proven himself Shadow's superior in the field of high-speed combat, the ebony hedgehog was easily the physically stronger of the two and could hold Sonic in place all day if he so chose. "Let me go Shadow, I'm gonna snap that beanpole's neck!"

"And what, wind up in jail for murder?" Shadow pointed out. "You've got more important things to do than rot behind bars Sonic, and one of them is standing over there." So saying Shadow managed to position Sonic enough to get him to look at Tails.

"I'm not gonna let him get away with this Shads…"

"So press charges against him faker. He's the one who broke the law. Calm down and use your head for once." For a few minutes, it really didn't look like Sonic was going to listen to him, and Shadow wondered what exactly was the history between this crane named Scranton and Sonic to cause the blue hedgehog to go off so badly. Finally though, the Hero of Earth stopped his struggles, becoming still as he considered Shadow's words. A good thing too, given that the Ultimate Lifeform was running on the end of his patience with this whole affair. Finally convinced Sonic was no longer going to do anything stupid, Shadow released him.

"Fine then," Sonic said, staring at his dark doppelganger as though HE'D been the one who'd struck Tails. Determinedly, the blue hedgehog marched up to the police officer and his captive. The copper could feel beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. Though he was the authority here, and backed by the full weight of Station Square's law, this was Sonic the Hedgehog he was dealing with, and he was obviously angry. If he decided to make trouble, there was very little, if anything, the officer could do to stop him.

"Sir? I… I must ask you to step away… step away from the prisoner," the cop said as Sonic approached, his voice breaking a bit. He didn't really feel like protecting this crane, especially given how he'd behaved earlier, but his duty was still very clear. Sonic stopped barely a foot away from the restrained prisoner, a hard look on his face. When he next spoke, the hedgehog's voice was clipped and neutral.

"Officer, this man's name is Dr. Lyle Scranton. His citizenship in Station Square was revoked a little more than thirteen years ago and, given that I haven't been told about any change in this status, I think it's obvious he's illegally snuck back into the country. In addition, he's also not supposed to come within a hundred feet of my little buddy, by order of G.U.N. command itself. I want him arrested, and I want him jailed, and I want to press charges for aggravated assault against Tails and myself." The officer's eyes widened at that. He didn't know Sonic had been struck too, but he wasn't about to argue. That was something for the lawyers to determine.

"See Sonic, doesn't that feel better," Amy said as she came up and grabbed Sonic's arm. She winced a little at the angry stare Sonic passed to her, even as she understood none of the anger it held had anything to do with her.

"Not really, but I'll take it for now," Sonic said as he and Amy moved back over to Tails. The scowl vanished as he noticed the bandage over the kit's head. "Hey big guy, you feeling any better?" Sad faced Tails shook his head.

"Nuh uh," the fox responded. "That rock hurt."

"I know big guy, I know," Sonic said as he hugged his ward to his chest, a painful memory playing across his mind's eye. Amy smiled at him.

"Don't worry Tails, the EMT said it wasn't serious, so it should feel better soon," she said. "Why don't we go see that movie we wanted to, get your mind off that nasty old crane."

"I guess so," Tails said, now feigning a miserable attitude since he was receiving so much attention from it. Amy and Sonic both recognized this tactic, having used it more than once in their own childhood. That in Sonic's case their positions had been reversed only seemed to add a sense of irony to the situation. Grabbing the boy around the waist, Sonic hefted the light fox kit up on his shoulders, careful to keep his head spines from jabbing into Tails's soft tummy.

"Yeah, that sounds good, a movie," Sonic agreed, his fingers sneaking up to tickle Tails's ribs, causing him to giggle a bit. Without looking back, the blue and pink hedgehogs began to leave, their passenger happily riding shotgun. As they did, Shadow released a sigh of relief. He really hadn't been looking forward to possibly having to battle Sonic over this, particularly since he couldn't see any way such a conflict could have a good outcome. Casting his own baleful look at Scranton as the crane was shoved into the patrol car, the ebony hedgehog began to take his own leave. It was by barest whim that he looked back at his three retreating friends before doing so. That was why he noticed that, while Sonic and Amy were still looked forward, Tails was looking back at the squad car, or more accurately at the prisoner in its back. As he caught a glimpse of those cerulean eyes, Shadow's heart nearly stopped at what he saw.

Sonic had been angry enough to kill Scranton, of that Shadow was quite sure. Had the black and red hedgehog not moved to stop him, there was little doubt in Shadow's mind that Sonic would have committed what would no doubt have been his first cold-blooded murder. Something he no doubt would have felt horrible about later on. The fire in his eyes had said it all; Sonic just wasn't the kind of person who could take a life, even of one who'd wronged him, and not let it devastate him. But, as Shadow saw the look in Tails's gaze, a look that had once been on his own face as he'd finally confronted those responsible for Maria's death.

If Sonic might have felt remorse had he taken the actions he'd wanted, Tails wouldn't even have given it a second thought.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Thirteen Years Ago

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

The fox was angry, angrier than he could ever remember being in all his life. As he sat in the wheel chair he'd been confined to for the past three weeks, all he could do was stew in his rage. Oh he wasn't upset over the loss of the Gravity Drive, at least not anymore. In light of the attack on his company, the Guardian Units of the Nation had graciously pushed back the date of the presentation by two months; more than enough time for Prower Aerodynamic to reconstruct the device based both on Miles's memory and the hidden memory cache the building held in its ultra-secure area.

Nor was Miles particularly upset over the injuries he'd incurred in his battle with Kukku and the War Tengu, at least not anymore. The doctors had all informed him that the bullet that had torn open his side had failed to strike anything vital, so he would heal quickly there and hopefully be out of the wheelchair soon. The shoulder had had the worst damage, the knife blade having actually jammed into a muscle, but it was slowly making its way to recovery.

He didn't even hold any grudges over having his pilot's license being suspended by the courts and his personal aircraft impounded. While the judge had berated him and the G.U.N. Commander had yelled himself hoarse, the two-tailed fox had understood the reasoning behind their anger. Miles would have done the same thing all over again given the chance, but he understood.

No, what had caused the normally complacent fox's blood to begin to boil were the contents of the file that currently sat on his desk, the end result of an internal investigation run by his company on the break-in it had suffered. Miles was not a naïve Mobian. He understood all too well how dangerous competition could be, especially with rogue nations seeking some of his more valuable toys, so in truth the Battle Bird's attack on his building was, if not expected per say, at least something they'd prepared for.

And yet Kukku's men had been able to waltz right into Miles's system, disarming every single firewall that had been present to stop them as if they had keys. The Battle Birds were good raiders, and they definitely had some talented hackers, but no one, not even the CEO of Prower Aerodynamic, was THAT good. That meant Kukku had had to get help from somewhere within the company.

Someone in Miles's employ had sold him out, knowing full well the kind of person they'd been selling him out to. Thus had the fox ordered an investigation, opening his company to G.U.N.'s perusal as they searched out the traitor. And now, as he read through the investigations findings in the file, Miles had pieced together just how he'd come to be in the predicament he'd found himself in a few weeks earlier.

"Mr. Prower. I have returned, and I have brought Dr. Scranton to see you," came the voice of his assistant, Michael Cervid. Miles looked up from his desk, smoothing his features as he prepared to receive the crane.

"Show him in please," the fox commanded, his voice neutral as he did so. Mr. Cervid entered the office, Scranton in front of him, his head bowed low again as it had during his last meeting.

"You… you wanted to see me, Mr. Prower?" the crane asked as the giant deer that had retrieved him moved back behind Miles, standing with his arms behind his back and an unreadable look on his face. For his part, Miles simply steepled his hands before his face.

"I thought you should know before we start, that G.U.N. officers are on their way here now to arrest you."

"A-a-a-arrest me?" Scranton replied; a startled look on his beaky face as he started to try to get up.

"I would suggest you remain seated, DR. Scranton," Michael Cervid advised, though his left hand rested firmly on Miles's shoulder. Were the crane a more perceptive Mobian, he might have noticed the somewhat strained state of the fox's muscles as he was held in place.

"Do you know what I hate, doctor? What I positively loathe?" Miles said as he moved his wheelchair out from behind the desk, his eyes never leaving Scranton as he began to move in a circular pattern. Even though the fox kept his distance from him, the crane couldn't help but feel like some hapless beast caught in the sights of a predator. "I despise double-dealing, backstabbing traitors. People who abuse their positions of trust with someone in order to better themselves at that person's expense."

"I… I'm afraid I fail to take your meaning, sir," Scranton said, very much wishing he was anywhere else but here.

"It is inadvisable to continue with this charade," Mr. Cervid stated. "We know everything Dr. Scranton."

"I wasn't aware…"

"It took time, but with G.U.N.'s help, the investigation was still fairly easy," the deer simply continued as though Scranton had said not a word. A nervous laugh escaped the crane's beak as he tried to deflect where this was going.

"I'm… I'm not sure what it is you think you've… you've found, but I assure you…"

"You're the one who sold my computer codes to the Battle Birds!" Miles yelled, an accusatory finger pointing directly at his treacherous employee.

"No!" Scranton yelped, jumping back a bit. "It… It wasn't me, I'd never…" Rather than placate the vulpine, this statement only seemed to enrage him, causing Miles to suddenly move forward in his chair, the fur on his body standing straight on end as the claws of his hands extended from his fingertips and his sharp canines became very visible from the growl that escaped his lips. Mobians had long since left behind much of their more primitive instincts behind, but that did not mean that there was nothing left of their formerly feral ancestors in them. Though the logical part of Scranton's mind told him he was simply facing a very angry employer, a more ancient, primal part of him could only see a hungry predator coming towards him.

"Liar!!" Miles managed to yell as he surged forward, his progress stopped only by his trusted assistant catching him before the full weight of his body could fall on his damaged hip. The last thing the CEO needed was to exacerbate his injuries through pointless posturing.

"AH!" Scranton yelled, drawing himself up in a ball as he tumbled backwards out of his chair.

"Mr. Prower, I would like you to please calm down," Mr. Cervid said quietly, causing the fox to cease his struggles as he allowed himself to be placed back in the wheelchair by the deer. His task done, Michael then turned back to Scranton. "As you may have surmised Dr. Scranton, we are not going to be fooled by your protestations of innocence. Our investigation into your affairs revealed a rather large sum of money being placed in your account by a company known to be used by the Imperial War Tengu for the purposes of laundering money to others." Scranton's eyes widened at this. Kukku had assured him that the source of the money he'd been given was completely untraceable.

"It… It was never my intention to hurt you or that hedgehog," Scranton tried to explain. "You must understand that this was simply business, nothing more. I had no way of knowing that that overgrown battle bird would try to kill you at all."

"I doubt there's anyone on this planet that could be that naïve, Doctor," Mr. Cervid said, his voice like steel. "Very few do not know about the antagonistic relationship between Mr. Prower and Cmdr. Kukku."

"No, I swear, I had no idea. All he said he wanted was the Gravity Drive. I had no idea he would attack you. It was never anything personal."

"Not personal?" Miles asked angrily. "Not personal? Because of you, that maniac had a way to attack my company and kidnap my son. How in the world is that NOT personal?" Again Scranton began to back up, this time running into Miles's desk.

"You must understand…"

"I understand perfectly. You were given an opportunity to make some easy money, and you took it. You didn't care what happened to anyone else involved so long as you got your money. You make me sick." At this last part, Miles Prower actually spit at the bird. "And because of your lack of loyalty, because of your selfish acts, my son was very nearly killed. I very nearly lost my life. If I wasn't in this chair, I'd throw you out that win…"

"Miles," Michael Cervid said sternly, already sensing the fox's temper rising again. Though a bitter look crossed the young CEO's face, he did calm down, though his hateful gaze never once shifted from the crane's form. It was at this point the door to the office opened, and several officers in G.U.N. uniforms entered, a pair of handcuffs already at the ready. "Needless to say, Mr. Scranton, your services here are no longer required." As the deer spoke, one of the officers grabbed hold of the doctor's arms, pulling them behind his back as he applied the handcuffs. "I should also inform you that Prower Aerodynamic intends not only to press charges against you for your criminal activities, but we will also be suing you for violating your employee contract by divulging company secrets."

"What? You can't!" Scranton yelled, struggling a bit as the G.U.N. officers began to pull him out of the room.

"That isn't all," Miles interposed. "I guarantee you that whatever part of your spineless reputation manages to survive this entire affair I will personally shred to pieces. By the time I'm done, there won't be a person in this country that won't hate your guts."

"You stupid fox, you'll… you'll ruin me!" the crane yowled, turning to Mr. Cervid. "You, you can talk some sense into him. Well talk some sense into him, make him see reason!"

"If you honestly believe that I would do anything at this point to protect you; then you are a far greater fool than Cmdr. Kukku took you for," the deer said stoically as the crane was removed from the office by the officers to be formally arrested downstairs. As the doors closed behind them, the sound of an exhausted exhalation came to personal assistant's fuzzy ears, causing him to turn about. Miles had wheeled himself back behind his desk and was now sitting with his elbows on the top, his face now resting in the palms of his hands, and his eyes closed.

"Thanks for keeping me from ripping that guy's limbs off earlier," the fox muttered as he sat still for a moment.

"I did not believe you would best be served by being sent to jail over maiming that miscreant," Mr. Cervid stated as he calmly approached his employer.

"Well at least now that's taken care of and we can move on to other concerns," Miles stated matter-of-factly.

"If I may be so bold sir, there is one concern that I believe requires your immediate attention," the deer assistant responded as he placed an envelope firmly on the desk before him.

"What's this?" Miles asked as he took the envelope and opened it, revealing what appeared to be an airplane ticket of all things. Miles cast a confused glance at his assistant, wondering what the deer was getting at.

"In the face of your pilot's license being placed under suspension and the Tornado currently resting at the bottom of the ocean awaiting salvage, I took the liberty of purchasing a ticket for you to Emerald Hill on South Island." Like hot iron, the ticket was dropped as Miles began to shake his head.

"No, there's too much that needs to be done, I can't leave now," the fox responded.

"If you don't mind my saying sir, and even if you do, that is a full crock of balderdash," Mr. Cervid replied, not fooled by Miles's statement. "There is nothing here that is so pressing as to require your immediate presence."

"Building a new Gravity Drive, repairing the tower from the attack by the Battle Birds, repairing the mainframe…" Miles began to recite, ticking off reason after reason he needed to remain in Station Square.

"I might point out that I am more than capable of overseeing the repairs to the building AND the mainframe," Michael countered. "And as to the Gravity Drive; thanks to that remarkable memory of yours, we have recovered the full plans for the device. Building a new one is something that can be easily handled by your technicians." The deer stood, back straight and hands clasped behind his back as he said this, an impenetrable wall before Miles Prower's sight. "In point of fact, the only 'business' that actively requires your attention is currently waiting at your parents' house in Emerald Hill."

"You're treading dangerous water MR. Cervid," Miles responded in as authoritative a voice as he could. "My personal life is just that; personal. How I handle it is not really your concern."

"I might remind you that I am employed as your PERSONAL assistant, and it is my duty to make sure your LIFE is kept in such a state as to allow you to deal with the most important aspects of it with minimum difficulty. It is a task I take most seriously and one I will execute to the fullest of my abilities."

"A job you execute at my discretion I might remind you," Miles hissed at the deer, tired of this conversation. Mr. Cervid's eyes narrowed at this thinly veiled threat.

"I see," he said as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling forth another envelope he then laid down on the desk directly in front of the fox. Miles looked at the paper with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. He was in no mood to play games, but at the same time, Michael Cervid didn't play games at all.

"What is this?" Miles asked as he reached for the envelope.

"My letter of resignation," Mr. Cervid responded. Had the deer said the envelope contained plutonium and was covered in anthrax dust, Miles's hands would not have stopped faster. "If you truly feel I am overstepping my bounds here, you have only to lift that paper and I shall consider that my dismissal."

"You're playing a dangerous game here Cervid," the injured vulpine intoned, though his hands stayed far away from the object. "Dangerous and stupid. Not at all qualities I've come to associate with you."

"I simply do what must be done, sir," the deer intoned. "As I said though, if you have truly decided I am no longer worth employing, you have only to touch that paper." When gloved hands did not reach out to grab the envelope, Mr. Cervid took this as a sign to continue. "As I was saying, you have a far more important concern than the gravity drive's reconstruction, one that is covered in blue spines."

"You don't know anything about this…"

"I know that in the past three weeks, you have called your old home each and every day and seem to always be too 'busy' to speak to anyone other than your parents. And yet, if my sources are correct, much of your conversation tends to resolve around Sonic."

"Sources?" Miles asked. "You've been talking to my parents haven't you?"

"They contacted me, which should give you some idea as to how serious this situation has become." It was quite true. Neither Bartholomew nor Evelyn Prower was predisposed to go behind their son's back to talk about him. In fact, aside from a few conversations that had occurred on those instances Miles was simply too busy to speak with his progenitors, the longest conversations they tended to hold with the deer consisted Mr. Cervid saying "Mr. Prower has just come in." Thus it was something of a shock to hear how frankly the personal assistant admitted to such a conspiracy. The fox hadn't even realized his parents considered his friend a confidant.

"Look, I appreciate that you're all so concerned, but I'm the one who makes the decisions concerning Sonic."

"And if you were so sure your decisions were the right ones, you would not be so irate and intolerant towards those who speak differently," the deer pointed out, before calmly continuing. "It is not in your nature to reject opinions differing from your own out of hand, sir."

"And what makes you think you know me so completely?" Miles asked, his ire rising. "What makes you believe you can understand the way my mind works so effectively?!" As he asked this question, Miles's hands slammed down on his desk hard, causing a loud bang. Mr. Cervid was quick to note that, despite the seemingly irrational behavior his employer was displaying, neither hand was so carelessly slammed downwards that they came within even an inch of the letter of resignation the antler bearing Mobian had given him. The fox was mad, but he wasn't as mad as he seemed, at least not enough to let himself go completely.

"I have been in your service since you founded this company sir, and in all that time, yes, I do believe I have come to know you well enough to understand the way your mind works." The deer's arms were once more crossed behind his completely rigid back as he stared calmly at Miles disheveled form. "It is fairly obvious you are concerned about Olgilvie, about Sonic, otherwise you would not be so desperate for daily updates as to his condition, especially after having taken measures to remove him from Station Square so quietly."

"After what he went through, why wouldn't I?" Miles countered. "You'd have to be some kind of heartless Mobian not to be concerned about him."

"We both know simple altruism goes only so far, Mr. Prower. I imagine Sonic does not lack for well-wishers and such in this city, especially considering how quickly his kidnapping was reported on, despite your efforts to suppress the story." As Cervid spoke, Miles's eyes widened a bit. He'd been quiet about that particular action; how his personal assistant had found out he'd been the one to force the news stations to be quiet about it…

_'But then, if not me then who?'_ the two tailed inventor thought to himself sullenly.

"My question, however, is that if you show such concern for the boy, why are you so resistant towards the idea of going to him to offer support and comfort? Surely it has crossed so exceptional a mind as yours that, offering no offense to your parents' ability to care for him, it is your responsibility to help Sonic through this. You were the one who took the responsibility of being, not merely his guardian, but his parent and his well-being rests squarely in your hands."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Then what possible reason do you have not to go to him and help him? If you care for him, you should go to him."

"Maybe it's more complicated than that Michael," Miles growled.

"I sincerely hope it is Mr. Prower, because the alternative does not cast you in a favorable light."

"Favorable light? Favorable Light!" the fox yelled. "Do you think I care one whit about being 'cast in a favorable light?!'"

"Not under the present circumstances, no sir, I do not," Mr. Cervid answered truthfully. "Which is why this whole situation seems so perplexing to me?"

"Look, like you said, it's up to me to do what's best for him."

"And you think staying away from him is what's best for him?" As the deer asked this question, there was no hint of accusation, no sliver of disgust in his voice, merely an honest curiosity. It was perhaps because of this fact that, rather than continue to lash out at his old friend, Miles Prower instead answered in a calm, almost subdued voice.

"Why not? Being near me very nearly ended his life," the fox whispered. Velvety ears twitched a bit under those great antlers, a fleeting look of surprise coming over the ruminant's long face as he heard these words before he once more adopted his normal stoic expression.

"I'm afraid I do not understand, sir."

"If Sonic wasn't my kid, if I'd never adopted him, that stupid bird Kukku would never have had reason to kidnap him," Miles said, spelling out the situation as bluntly as he could, a small tear appearing in one of his blue eyes.

"Well, that might be true but I hardly think…"

"You warned me before, remember. So did Mom and Dad, and even Robert said I should take measures to protect him, but I didn't listen. I… I wanted him to have as normal a life as I could provide; so much so that I turned a blind eye to the obvious perils he could face."

"Is that was all this unwillingness over going to Emerald Hill is about? Some misplaced desire to protect young Sonic from a perceived danger in associating with you?" From the way he spoke, it was fairly clear the antlered Mobian thought the whole idea to be ludicrous. From the way he looked, however, it was equally clear Miles did not.

"He would not have been in danger if he hadn't been connected to me," Miles stated again. "Seeing that, I have to wonder… Would he be better off if I gave him up again?"

"What?" Cervid very nearly shouted, only catching his voice's volume just before the word left his mouth. "You can't be serious sir."

"And why not?" Miles asked. "If he were not my son, my competitors, the enemies I've made, they would have no reason to harm him. I think he'll be safe then."

"What you mean to say, I think, is that you think your conscience will then be cleared," the smartly dressed ruminant countered. "If he is not directly your responsibility, you will not feel guilty for what happens to him in life."

"No," the vulpine CEO said, sounding very insulted by his assistant's allegation. "How can you think such a thing? It's… unconscionable."

"Yes it is," the disappointed deer said. "It is horrifying to consider that you would ever be so low as to cast off a mere child who thinks the world of you simply to assuage your feelings of guilt. But as I listen to what you tell me, that is all I can think you are doing. That you might equate abandoning that boy as an act of love and protection in regards to him fills me with revulsion I am quite unaccustomed to feeling for you Mr. Prower."

"Don't you think I want to keep Sonic around?! It tears me up inside to think about giving him up, but if that's what he needs in order to be safe, maybe its for the best."

"Balderdash!" Michael Cervid said, as close as he ever came to actually swearing. "If this is the course of action you have chosen, then so be it, but I will not permit you to disguise the motive behind this as anything less than what is in my opinion a selfish desire to abdicate your responsibilities."

"That's not fair."

"That is the truth," Miles's assistant pointed out. "As I said, if this is the course of action you have decided on, then I am, as always, at your service. But I think you at least owe it to your son, while he still remains your son, to see him and make sure he understands why." So saying, Cervid's hand reached out to reclaim the letter of resignation he'd placed on Miles's desk, tucking the envelope back into the breast pocket of his suit's coat before he turned to leave. The envelope containing the aforementioned plane tickets, however, remained. "It is, as always, your decision Mr. Prower. I only pray you make the right one."

And with that, the deer was gone, leaving the fox alone with his thoughts.

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Sonic was unhappy. And that was putting it mildly. In point of fact, Sonic was very unhappy.

It wasn't anything presently that was making him unhappy. Both Evelyn and Bartholomew Prower had done an excellent job looking after their adoptive grandson in their own son's stead. When they'd heard what happened, they'd rushed to Station Square to be of use, arriving just after Miles awoke from surgery. It had been something of a shock to see their son lying in a hospital bed, bandaged up over his shoulder and hip, but they'd been relieved to find out the damage done was not as bad as it could have been. Still, they'd been fully prepared to begin fussing and caring for their injured offspring for as long as necessary. Their plans had been derailed by three simple words from the ailing fox.

"Get Sonic away."

With those three words, Sonic, more than a little in shock after the whole ordeal he'd been in, had found himself being bundled up into a privately chartered plane and taken back to Emerald Hill. As he'd realized he was being taken somewhere, the hedgehog had asked why, not wanting to leave his foxy father's comforting side when he was so obviously hurt and more than a little confused as to why Miles's own parents seemed willing, even if reluctantly, to do so. An answer was given and, from what Sonic gathered of it, the reason had to do with all the reporters who had been flocking about the hospital, snapping errant photos of either of them at the most annoying moments. Such annoyances had not been seen since the blue hedgehog had made it to the Prower's somewhat isolated home, and for that Sonic was grateful. It had been a harrowing few weeks for the young hedgehog, and he quite preferred not to have any photographic evidence of this humiliating time showing up in the papers.

It had started right after the Navy had successfully pulled both Sonic and Miles up onto their carrier. The exhilaration of survival had begun to fade, replaced by the terrifying realization of what he'd gone through, of how closely he'd come to dying. Even worse had been the realization that the fox he idolized and looked up to was lying unmoving, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow. It had been enough to start Sonic himself hyperventilating, grabbing hold of the prone fox and desperately trying to shake him back to consciousness. Of course the seamen who'd helped them were quick to try and stop him, lest he aggravate the injuries the vulpine had incurred. Sonic vaguely remembered stabbing someone in the shoulders with his quills as he struggled to remain next Miles while the field medic worked on him. Needless to say that had not made him popular with the sailors, who'd been forced to sedate him as well. Supposedly there was a picture of his unconscious body being carried off the ship as well as one of a sailor with a blue quill stuck in his arm that Sonic had yet to see.

In hindsight, it seemed he needn't have worried. Miles had survived his brush with death and the doctors had told the Prowers, who in turn had told the hedgehog, that he wouldn't be dying anytime soon. Sonic had been relieved.

And then he'd been packed up and taken back to Emerald Hill, far away from Station Square, and the prying cameras of the reporters. Miles's parents had called up a friend who'd entered their home to prepare Miles's old room for Sonic and they'd helped set him up for what was to be a nice, relaxing rest after his horrible ordeal. He'd unpacked his things, set up the room the way he wanted, had a hot meal, and then gotten ready for bed. Almost…

It had happened in the bathroom, as he'd been drawing his bath, a mandatory condition before turning in for the night. He'd watched as the warm water had fallen down from the spigot, adding just a bit of bubble bath to make the water all foamy.

Foamy like the sea.

Foamy like the ocean itself.

The ocean, where Kukku had sent him to die. A deep, dark merciless body of water. A slight shiver worked its way up Sonic's spine. He remembered hitting that water, bound and helpless, the air driven from his lungs by the force of his impact and unable to be replenished. He remembered the horrible feeling of sinking as the ropes that bound his hands and feet became heavy, causing his struggling, thrashing body to fall deeper into the murky depths. Depths as murky as the bath water was becoming as it rose to fill the tub, thanks in no small part to the soap Sonic had previously poured into it. The water looked so deep. Hadn't he read an article about a boy who'd drowned in under an inch of water? And this was definitely more than an inch. Just like all that water from… before…

He hadn't even noticed his slight shiver had become a full on trembling, hadn't noticed his breathing becoming shallow, causing him to feel like he couldn't breathe. But he did notice the screaming. The loud, shrill screaming of a creature held in the grips of a terror absolute. A scream that had been unable to be made as he plummeted through the air, and been suffocated into silence as he plunged into the ocean.

The sound of yelling, inquiries as to whether he was okay, and hard strikes against the bathroom's door heralded the arrival of his grandparents. Bartholomew, even past his prime, managed to break through the locked door as Evelyn entered to find her grandson sitting on the floor, his back pressed against the wall as far as he could be from the soon to overflow bathtub, screaming and crying as though someone had threatened to slice him in half. Sensing the problem, the matronly vulpine had grabbed hold of the frightened boy, ignoring the sharp points of his quills as she held him tightly against her chest and carried him out of the bathroom. Her husband dealt with the still running faucet and unplugged the bathtub's drain.

It had taken them hours to get the terrified Sonic to calm down, hours of the hedgehog alternating between bawling and silently quivering in his grandmother's arms as she rocked him back and forth. At some point he'd been wrapped in a thick blanket, an act that had done much to counter-act the odd cold and clammy feeling his exposed skin.

And thus had he passed his first night in Emerald him, a quivering lump of spines and fear acting like a little baby. Sonic had been supremely thankful no pictures had been taken of that night, just as he'd been thankful no pictures had come from the events that happened afterwards.

Sonic couldn't go near water, not without breaking down. Bathtubs, sinks, pails, even bowls filled with water caused him to freeze up in fear. Even the shower was out of the question, the hard falling of water giving him the sensation that he was back in the ocean. Thus it was that Evelyn had been forced to resort to keeping her grandson clean with a wet towel. In all honesty the young boy didn't know which was worse, the break-downs or being bathed like a little baby. He'd begun to dread the coming of night.

Recognizing a problem when they saw it, the Prowers had made arrangements for Sonic to see a psychologist specializing in traumatized children. The doctor had been understanding, as most such adults tended to be, and had listened rather intently as the hedgehog had talked about every reason he wouldn't go near water, though for some reason he'd forgotten to say anything about his impromptu dip in the ocean. After their first session, the doctor had suggested Sonic be eased back into contact with water, slowly but steadily, while he continued to work on getting Sonic to deal with what had happened to him. Of course Sonic had asked the obvious question; how long before he no longer bawled like a baby in the presence of water? When the psychologist had begun to talk about variables and everyone healing at their own rates, the blue Mobian had been less than reassured.

Thus had they spent the past few weeks. Everyday Sonic had gone into town to spend two whole hours with the Doc undergoing treatment. The rest of his time had been spent trying to take it easy, playing with toys in the safety of his room or going out onto the grounds under the watchful eyes of his grandparents.

And all this while, he hadn't heard a single word from Miles Prower, the fox who had rescued him. Not even a peep.

It wasn't as though the vulpine was still in the hospital. Sonic had watched on the news as the oddly-dour looking CEO had been released from the hospital, Mr. Cervid gently pushing his wheelchair towards the limo waiting for him. And it wasn't as though he hadn't called. Sonic had managed to walk into the kitchen for as snack just in time to hear his grandmother talking to her son. No. Miles was up and about and very much keeping in touch with everyone. Everyone except Sonic.

He was used to being ignored. He actually preferred it sometimes. There was no doubt the boy loved attention, it was the reason he liked to perform all those stunts during recess, but years of being the blue freak of Green Hill Orphanage had taught the speedster the value of being out of the limelight. But Miles had never ignored him, at least not in all the time Sonic had known the fox. It hurt.

Again and again Sonic tried to make sense of it, tried to understand why he was being so treated. It all came back to one thing; the incident with the Battle Birds and the Gravity Drive. Miles had had those walking feather dusters on the run when they'd attacked his building, and they'd only attacked because they'd wanted the GD device. And then the fox had been forced to surrender, all because Sonic had allowed himself to be captured. Then Miles had been forced to give chase to the Battle Birds, and as a result been stabbed several times by Kukku. He'd lost his plane, he'd had to undergo surgery, and, if the news was any indicator, gotten in trouble with the law right after.

All of these bad things kept coming back to one cause; Sonic. As he thought back over the past half year, and indeed over the entire time he'd known the fox, he began to realize how much trouble he tended to cause for his ever busy adoptive father. Was that why Miles was avoiding him? Had he decided that Sonic was simply more trouble than he was worth?

Such a thought tied the hedgehog's stomach in knots, adding to the frustration he'd been feeling as he'd made his slow progress back towards some form of normalcy.

_'What if Tails decides he doesn't want me anymore? What if he sends me back to Green Hill? What if he hates me for costing him his machine?'_ These were the questions that began to dance through his mind as he went through the motions of playing with his toys and trying to behave as normal as possible. He refused to give voice to them however. As painful as they were, the idea that maybe his fears were not unfounded was even more so. So he kept his fears to himself as best he could, trying to hide the insecurities he was feeling.

If the elder Prowers knew of any plans to get rid of him, they hid it well. Evelyn was always kind and sweet to him, going out of her way to make him cookies and cuddling him, doing whatever it took to make him feel loved. It was difficult to maintain any sort of skepticism with her around. Bartholomew was equally kind, albeit in his own way. He was always available to take his spiky grandson wherever he needed to go, always willing to tell an entertaining story from his youth, tales of some of the hair-raising adventures he himself had gone through and survived.

And yet there were always tells. Eavesdropping allowed the hedgehog to overhear conversations he wasn't meant to. He'd even overheard a phone conversation wherein his Grandmother had very nearly lost her temper with Miles, demanding to know how long he thought he could simply "dump you responsibilities off on your father and I?"

And yet, was Miles in the wrong for wanting to be free of Olgilvie? Hadn't the cobalt creature cost him a valuable piece of equipment? Hadn't he nearly cost the fox his life?

Thus, as he lay in his, scratch that in Miles's, bed, Sonic was unhappy in the extreme. He hadn't been sleeping well, images of an angry Miles coming and telling him to leave the house to go back to Green Hill running through his mind's eye as he slept. Often his favorite toys suffered the brunt of attacks from the bad guys, getting smashed and bashed about by the bad guys more so than normal. Even the super cosmic Star-Racer, Sonic's favorite action hero, was suffering a string of horrific defeats, with the hedgehog even accidentally cracking the toy's plastic armor.

_'Maybe I should just go away…'_ the boy thought as he burrowed under his blankets. He didn't want to leave. He liked it here, he liked it in Station Square. He honestly liked Miles and had hoped the fox liked him. But if it came down to it, Sonic wanted to leave on his own terms, not on anyone else's.

Maybe he'd be a wanderer, traveling from city to city, place to place. If he died his quills brown like a normal hedgehog, nobody would think him a freak. He could even do stunts; show off how fast he was. And if he left without telling anyone that meant Miles would never have the chance to take back the wonderful sneakers he'd given Sonic.

But he still didn't want to leave Station Square. He'd miss his friends, he'd miss his toys… He'd miss Miles.

_'Wonder how long I'll have to make a decision before someone makes it for me,' _thought the hedgehog as he wiggled a little, trying to get comfortable in the bed that still bore the fox's comforting scent as he tried to get to sleep.

As his mind began to drift off into a fitful slumber, the sound of the bedroom's door being opened came to his ears. Sonic gave it little thought; it was most likely either his grandmother or grandfather coming to check on him. They'd been doing that from time to time, ever since Sonic had come to stay with them. Once they were satisfied he wasn't crying in his sleep or showing other evidence of suffering night terrors, they'd leave.

But they didn't. What's more, someone was entering the room.

The first thing Sonic noticed was the odd gait. It didn't sound like a normal walk, it sounded… off. It was also a slow walk, as though the person performing it was having trouble moving. Like someone on crutches.

A faint musky scent wafted into the hedgehog's nostrils. A familiar scent. One that filled the boy with a sense of security as well as dread.

It was Miles.

Carefully Sonic opened his eyes, just a slit. He'd learned to do this in Green Hill. Others thought him asleep but really, in the darkness, his eyelashes easily covered his eyes and allowed him to see out at someone who was approaching him. Maybe if he feigned sleep, the fox would give him this last night before telling him he had to leave.

Whatever Miles had planned, it was undeterred by Sonic being asleep as the fox struggled to get himself into a kneeling position. With his eyes barely open, Sonic watched as Miles just knelt at the side of the bed, the light from the open door casting his face in shadow. As he waited for the fox's hand to reach out and shake him awake, to deliver the dreaded news that he was no longer welcome in this house, a faint sound came to his ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," came the voice of the vulpine as a soft sniffling accompanied the litany. For a moment, the hedgehog wondered what was going on. What did Miles have to be sorry for, he hadn't done anything wrong? The blue one's pondering came to an end as furry orange arms suddenly began to encircle his neck and chest, the injured millionaire struggling to embrace the apparently sleeping hedgehog. All the while he kept repeating how sorry he was.

A wetness appeared on Sonic's chest as Miles laid his head down on it, and the hedgehog realized his adoptive guardian was actually… crying? The notion that there was something going on that could upset the fox this much was unsettling enough to make Sonic's own emerald eyes begin to tear up involuntarily and, without him even realizing it, his own arms began to return the hug. This act actually started Miles who looked down at Sonic with sad eyes as he lifted his head again.

"I… I didn't mean to wake you," he said apologetically.

"I wasn't asleep," the hedgehog responded. No sense adding any more grief to the already troubled fox's psyche. Achingly Miles released Sonic, though he remained kneeling at the side of the bed. Already sensing where this was going, Sonic sat up, propping his back against the headboard as he sadly gazed at the fox, prepared for the worst. But, maybe he could convince Miles to give him a second chance. "Look, Miles, I'm… I'm sorry I let Kukku catch me. And I'm sorry you lost your machine… And I'm sorry you got hurt for…"

"Sonic please, stop," Miles seemed to beg as he looked at the boy, and a sinking feeling came to the hedgehog's stomach as he considered his words to have fallen on deaf ears. That was when the fox surprised him. "You have nothing, nothing to apologize for Sonic, nothing at all."

"But your machine… and your shoulder… and plane, and…"

"It doesn't matter."

"But you lost it because of me!" the hedgehog sprinter protested. "If I hadn't gotten myself captured, you'd be all right and you wouldn't be mad at me."

"Mad at you?" the perplexed fox said, clearly upset by his son's words. "I'm not mad, I'm proud of you. When that garbage ball Kukku threatened to kill your friends, you saved them. That's more than any kid your age has any reason to be expected to do."

"But your stuff…?"

"Can always be rebuilt, can always be replaced. Nothing I have is more valuable to me than you," Miles responded in quite a firm voice, much different from the sad one he'd had earlier. Then his voice again became quiet as he continued. "That was why I didn't want to come here."

"Huh?"

"You're the most important person in the world to me kid, the best thing to happen to me. But when I think about what could have happened with Kukku, what could still happen… I wonder if maybe you wouldn't be better off somewhere else."

"NO!" Sonic yelled, showing just how upset the very notion of this had made him as he'd dwelled on it for the past few weeks. "I don't want to go, I don't want to."

"But if you stay, how long before someone else tries to…"

"I don't care! I don't want to leave you," Sonic wailed, grabbing hold of his father as though to make sure he could just evaporate into nothingness. "You… you can handle anybody, anything."

"Not always…"

"Then I will! I'll be more careful, I'll be stronger, I'll be faster, whatever it takes," Sonic promised, tears now flowing down his eyes and drenching Miles's white chest fur. "I just don't want to leave you. You're the first person who ever saw me as something other than a freak of nature. I don't wanna go back to before that, I don't wanna be alone again. I want ta stay with you!" The hedgehog's grip became tighter as he fought to stay close to the fox, Miles wincing a bit at the sharp increase in pressure on his ribs. Still his own arms made their way around the prickly boy to return the hug as he began to rock the hedgehog back and forth lightly. Sonic was openly crying now, the fear and unhappiness he'd felt for the past few weeks being let out as he tried to hold on to what he wanted most of all.

For his part, Miles's own tears were slower and less easily seen, but they were still there. He was no less against this than Sonic was, but all his agile mind could do was run each and every horrible scenario it could involving the young hedgehog and whatever nutjob saw him as a viable way to get to Miles and his company.

And yet, he could not deny how much having the hedgehog around meant to him. It would be an exercise in futility to pretend otherwise.

Miles had spent his life coming up with solutions to impossible problems, he'd made his fortune at it. To be denied something like this, something he really wanted, simply because his overactive imagination kept clinging to the worst case scenario was not just ludicrous, it was beneath him.

"All right," he said quietly after the duo spent several minutes, almost an hour, holding each other. Again he spoke, this time with much more resolve. "All right. We'll make this work." Sonic looked up at Miles with questioning eyes.

"What?" Miles pulled Sonic off of him and stared him straight in the eye, or at least as straight as he could given his injured form.

"We'll make this work. We have to. It's what we both want," he answered. "I've never backed down from a challenge in my life, especially not for something I really want. And you don't deserve to be shunted aside for as lame an excuse as 'It's for your own good.' You're my son, and I'm your father, we're not going to be separated by someone like Kukku, I promise you. We're going to be a family, no matter what happens."

"You mean it?"

"With all my heart," the fox stated firmly before his gaze softened. "Now, let's see a smile, huh?" Feeling somewhat reassured by the words spoken to him, Sonic did manage to smile, a weak one, but still a smile. "There's my super-cool speedster." Sonic chuckled a bit at that. Then Miles got a look at the digital clock sitting on the nightstand that read the numbers three colon four six and his eyes went wide. "Oh my, it's certainly late." As if to emphasize this point, Sonic's jaws opened and he released a tired yawn. "I think the rest of this conversation can wait until morning."

"But it is yawn morning, isn't it," Sonic pointed out.

"Not until you've gone to sleep and woken up it isn't," Miles countered as he gently lay the blue hedgehog back down on the bed before struggling to get to his feet with the help of the crutch he used to walk. As he made it to his feet, a yawn escaped his lips as well. "Looks like I need to hit the hay too. Sleep well, kiddo, and we'll talk tomorrow." So saying, the fox turned to leave, his two bushy tails raised and held higher than they had been at any point in the past few weeks.

"Wait!" Sonic called, stopping his egress. Painfully Miles's head turned to look back at Sonic. "Please, just for tonight… could you… stay with me?"

"Hmm?"

"Please," Sonic begged, putting on the most adorable face he could muster. If Miles stayed here, there was less chance this would all end up having been a dream or something else equally as unfair. Miles looked at the hedgehog for a minute before nodding his head in decision.

"Fair enough," the fox said as he gingerly crawled into the large bed alongside his son, careful of his injuries and Sonic's quills. Happy now, Sonic scooted closer to the vulpine, a relieved sigh escaping him as he settled and finally went to sleep.

The next morning, as the sun rose over the Prower house, Evelyn Prower quietly opened the door that belonged to the former bedroom of her son Miles and now housed her adopted grandson. It had become her custom to check on the traumatized hedgehog each morning, her maternal instincts causing her to worry each time she entered the room and saw how fitfully the boy seemed to sleep. As she looked into the room, her eyes widened at what she saw.

Miles lay on the bed, fast asleep, his bandages covering both his shoulder and his hip as the blue form of Sonic nuzzled complacently into the fox's chest, a look of serenity on his face as he too slept. From the sight of her son's two twitching tails, it was clear to the elder fox that her offspring too was relaxed and content.'

And just like that a great weight was lifted from the former archaeologist's shoulders. As she'd watched this horrible little drama play out, she'd been so afraid it would end badly, both for her son and Sonic as well. Now though, as she quietly backed out of the room, taking with her the alarm clock so as to allow them both some much needed peaceful sleep, she held out hope that maybe, just maybe, the future would still see them together and happy…

To be Continued….

And so we come to the end of this particular story arc, though not the end of Reversion (sorry to those of you whose hearts skipped a beat). We're going to go back to skipping around in the past and present for the next chapter, as I gear up for a few revelations concerning both the characters in the presents, and the events in the past. Hopefully I can update with some semblance of regularity now but just in cast, I do hope you all will be patient with me. See you all next time.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Well, I'm betting there were a lot of people who were surprised when the update notification for this chapter. Am I right? I'd like to apologize for how long this took. It was honestly not my intention to leave this story languishing for a year or more. Sorry to everyone who's gotten miffed about that. I would like to promise that updates on this story will start coming rapid-fire, but I'm afraid that's not in the cards since I have two more projects in the works and one is taking absolute priority over everything else since its meant to make money. Still, there's no need to fret. I still work to finish this story, so yes the updates will come sooner (no more year long hiatuses), just don't expect weekly updates too often. ;-) Hopefully we can shoot for monthly updates again (or maybe bimonthly now that I have my own personal computer to use).

On a side note, I've decided that it's time to start equalizing the past and present segments' individual lengths a bit more. After all, half of the point of this story is to see Sonic and Tails's life before AND after the… event. So expect in the following chapters to see more of Sonic's life trying to deal with life under its new terms.

Well that should be all. Thanks again to everyone who kept on reviewing despite the lack of updates. Hear from you all real soon.

* * *

Present

* * *

"Home sweet home," Sonic said as he unlocked the front door of the house in Mystic Ruins. This far away from everything, actually locking the door was somewhat unnecessary but, given the enemies he'd made over the course of his life, Sonic wasn't in to making things too easy for anyone who found this place.

As he and Amy stepped into the warm home, Tails squeezed past them, zooming around the living room with his hands and arms held out in front of him as he pretended to fly through the air. That the little fox actually COULD fly and the position of his arms had NOTHING to do with such a feat made the play-acting seem just a bit odder to Sonic. Still he was not about to stop the boy's fun. At least not at first.

"Tails, don't you dare start jumping on the furniture while you're still wearing those dirty snow boots," the hedgehog warned his charge as he saw the orange fox prepare to leap up onto the sofa. Realizing he'd been caught, Tails twirled his twin namesakes, using them to keep his wet and muddy boots from touching the fabric of the sofa and propelling himself over to his hedgehog guardian.

"Sorry Sonic," the fox said sheepishly as he fell down to his butt and began to remove his footwear. Sonic took the snow boots from the cub and placed them by the door to dry, and then he took the fox's winter coat, scarf, and hat and hung them up for him.

"Okay, now you can go," the hedgehog said, causing the vulpine to scamper off happily and resume his role-playing game. The movie they'd gone to see was, in Sonic's opinion, a bomb in every sense of the word, save that it hadn't actually exploded. Maybe if it had, it would have been better.

The tale had started out all right. Hero returns from deep space, Archenemy comes up with sinister plan to use Hero's own alien tech and weakness against him, and the world is imperiled. There was even a cool subplot wherein the Hero's ex-girlfriend, having married someone else, had apparently given birth to the Hero's kid, though he didn't know it. Amy had been very quick to latch on to that little plot point, much to Sonic's annoyance.

But then the movie had devolved into the same "beat 'em up" cheese-fest most movies tended to, trying to substitute computer animated special effects for good acting and a plot as it did so. The only good thing the hedgehog could say for the show was that it had managed to keep Tails entertained for its duration. Now he just wished the cub would stop trying to imitate the lame hero in the story.

"Well, well, you finally made it home," came a sultry voice from the kitchen that surprised all three Mobians. "I was beginning to think you two had moved away when I wasn't looking." From the kitchen a familiar white bat exited, one hand holding onto the doorframe as the other rested on her hip.

"Rouge," Sonic said, "so nice to see you again. And letting yourself into my house without my help too. Such a timesaver." The blue hedgehog's body relaxed as he recognized the intruder to not be a threat. If the bat had come here for a fight, she would not have bothered to announce her presence before attacking. Many qualities could be attributed to Rouge, but a fair fighter was not one of them. Still, she had broken into the house and, while Sonic was sure if she were here to steal something she wouldn't have waited around for them, which meant something was up.

"Who are you?" Tails suddenly asked, the fox having wandered over to stand right in front of the bat. Sonic's eyes narrowed just a bit as he watched this, sending a clear warning to the thief and spy not to try any funny business.

"Ah, don't tell me you've forgotten your dear Auntie Rouge," Rouge said as she bent over and tussled the cub's head fur, a pleasant smile on her face as she did so. "Auntie Rouge?" both Sonic and Tails asked, though Sonic placed more emphasis on the title the white bat had apparently given herself. The hedgehog couldn't help but notice that this position gave him a rather hard to miss view of the flirtatious chiropteran's cleavage, a tactic often employed by the thief to throw others off balance. It had worked more than once with the easily embarrassed Knuckles. Of course this was not something that slipped by Amy at all.

"Is there a reason you came here, or are you just really into breaking and entering?" the pink hedgehog snippily said, making sure the conversation stayed on track. Rouge ignored the veiled insult, grabbing hold of Tails gently and walking with him around to the front of the couch before taking a seat and placing the cub in her lap.

"Such hostility," she said to the fox, keeping his blue eyes locked on her own aquamarine as she used her nails to gently scratch under his chin. "You would think Amy wasn't happy to see your dear Auntie."

"Why don't you like Auntie Rouge Amy?" Tails asked, looking back at the pink hedgehog. Caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place, Amy could only feign a smile as she answered.

"Its not that I don't like 'Auntie' Rouge Tails, its just I'm surprised to see her here. Last I heard she was living on an island."

"Yeah, what's the deal Rouge?" Sonic asked, having stripped off his own winter gear and taken a seat in a chair near the bat.

"I need your help Sonic," the female said frankly, causing Amy to snort in derision, though she said nothing. Sonic was a different story, however.

"I'm outta the hero game Rouge, you know that," he said in no uncertain terms. "I stopped going on adventures two years ago, you know that."

"And yet you still do occasional work for the government…" Rouge reminded him as she began to scratch behind Tails's ears. Though the fox hadn't really been comfortable in his supposed Aunt's lap at first, this constant treatment was doing a lot to get the cub to warm up to the strangely familiar bat. Of course Sonic noticed this.

"That's entirely different," Sonic pointed out before adding, "and watch how far you go with that." Rouge smiled at his somewhat paranoid accusation, even as Tails failed to understand what he was talking about. As far as he was concerned, "Auntie" Rouge was a master at giving ear scratches.

"Don't worry Sonic, what I need you for isn't dangerous, but it's important all the same."

"How so?"

"It's Knuckles." At the mention of the echidna's name, Sonic's back went just a touch rigid. Next to Tails, Knuckles was, had been, one of the oldest of Sonic's friends, one of his favorite rivals. But then…

"Knuckles and I haven't spoken for almost two years," Sonic pointed out.

"I know," Rouge said, an uncharacteristically sad look coming over her face, "but I think if anyone can help him, it's you. You might be the only one who can help him."

"'You think?' As in Knuckles has no idea you're here?" the hedgehog asked, shaking his head in disbelief. He knew Knuckles was a stubborn Mobian, but the echidna usually had the sense to ask for help if he got too far in over his head. And if Rouge could see such was the case, Knuckles had to. Unless… "What's going on?"

"He's… different." The sad tone of Rouge's voice made the hedgehog believe the normally flighty bat's assessment.

"Different?"

"Look, you know how our relationship works, the dance Knuckles and I go through. I try to steal the Master Emerald or the Chaos Emeralds, he comes to stop me, we fight, a good time is had by all. It adds some excitement to what must be the most boring life on the planet, and I get a shot at the rarest of all gems."

"Yeah we know all about the two of you and your method of dating," Sonic snipped, unintentionally causing the bat to glare at him angrily. To her credit, Rouge was still very much in control of herself and her hands did not accidentally ball into angry fists, something that might have caused the furry kit in her lap to yelp in pain. The anger drained from her face as she remembered why she had come.

"Lately that hasn't been the case," she said. "He's been getting… sloppy."

"Sloppy?" Amy asked, concerned now. Knuckles had been her friend too after all.

"He moves slower, doesn't attack as passionately. In our last fight he barely held his own against me." Immediately Sonic could see what she was saying. Knuckles was amongst the world's foremost experts at hand-to-hand combat, the hedgehog was fully aware a lot of the victories he'd gained over the echidna were due more to the fact that he was so much faster than the Guardian. No normal opponent had a chance against him and, though Rouge was indeed vain, the batty thief had never been stupid enough to buy into her own hype. She knew very well Knuckles had qualms about turning his full strength against a member of the fairer sex and that he tended to hold back and use only as much force as he needed to, even against someone as clearly dangerous and capable as Rouge. That she held back too was a mark of how little either one earnestly sought a permanent end to their rivalry.

But there was playful fighting, and then there was getting sloppy, and if Rouge was noticing Knuckles getting sloppy… How long before someone with no qualms about ending the echidna's life saw it as well?

"Is he sick or something?" Amy asked, concern now deeply etched on her face. Even Tails seemed to be picking up on the gravity of the situation as he had stopped smiling over the sharp nail scratching behind his ear.

"I… I don't think so," Rouge responded. "But he does look it."

"Huh?"

"He's skinnier than he should be, he's got thick black bags under his eyes, and he looks so… tired."

"Is it possible someone's been attacking the island?" Sonic asked, though he knew this was grasping at straws. "I mean, he could simply be overworked."

"Nuh-uh," Rouge said, "if someone else had designs on the emeralds, I'd know about it, trust me, and they would be very sorry." Sonic didn't doubt that they would. "I really think he needs help, and I just don't know how to help him."

"I hate to point this out, but Knux is the one who doesn't want to see us, not the other way," Sonic pointed out, just a little bitter.

"But if he needs our help…" Amy began, causing Rouge to look at the pink hedgehog with a raised eyebrow and wonder when the bat had asked help of Sonic's girlfriend.

"Look, I know you don't have a lot of reason to rekindle your friendship with Knuckles. I know he's stubborn, tactless, and has all the personal warmth of a brick wall, but he needs someone's help and let's be honest, you're the only one who's ever been able to break through his stubborn pride long enough to get him to accept something like that." So saying Rouge lifted Tails off of her lap and set him down on the ground before getting up herself to leave. "Just promise me you'll at least think about my request Sonic. If not for his sake than for the sake of the chaos emeralds that would become easy targets without him." And with that, the white bat simply gracefully made her departure.

* * *

"And with a final blow from the axe, the beanstalk began to fall, and with it so fell the giant. They say the hole he created when he landed became a lake, feeding the drought ridden farms of the entire Kingdom. And as for Jack and his mother, with the golden goose, the magic harp, and all of the giant's gold, they never went hungry again. The End." With that proclamation, Sonic closed the thin book and looked down at Tails who was lightly snoring as he lay asleep in his bed. The young fox looked so content his hedgehog guardian couldn't help but reach out and pet his forehead affectionately, causing the kit to snuggle against his hand. "Good night kid," Sonic said with a smile as he put the book back in Tails's bookshelf and exited the room, turning off the lamp he'd been using for illumination as he closed the door.

His tasks for the night done, Sonic quietly descended the stairs to the first story of the house. Thanks to his brain rewiring itself, Tails was a deep sleeper, and it would probably take more than creaking steps to rouse him from slumber, but Sonic didn't want to take any chances. In the living room, Amy sat on the couch, entertaining herself by watching one of the television sitcoms she liked so much. In point of fact it was one Sonic liked too, but his mind was on other things.

Knuckles. He hadn't given much thought to the red echidna in the past two years. Out of sight, out of mind and all that. But now Rouge's visit had pushed the Guardian of the Floating Island back into the forefront of Sonic's mind. Knuckles hadn't been able to reconcile Tails's condition when he'd been told, not that it'd started out that way.

He'd called Sonic a dummy for being too stupid to tell the echidna about this problem before it'd progressed too far, suggesting that they use the reality warping powers of the chaos emeralds and their Master to try to purge the fox's body of the virus afflicting him. It had seemed like a plausible solution and, with the sudden gravity of Tails's condition; Sonic had been willing to try. They'd spent a week on the Floating Island as Knuckles had prepared to altar to receive the fox. Once the preparations had been complete, the echidna had called them both over to the shrine.

Tails had been laid upon the Master Emerald, the seven servers had been placed into their usual pedestals, and Knuckles had begun his chant. Sonic had been quite hopeful as the spell had begun, after all the chaos emeralds had never failed to save the day before.

Of course there was always a first time for everything. The gems had flashed, their powers had radiated and… nothing had happened. Tails had not returned to his former self and a check-up with Dr. Labris had revealed the contagions had not left his system. Aside from the pretty lightshow, Knuckles's efforts had been in complete vain.

And the moment the echidna had heard this, he'd declared the fox cub forever banned from his island. Tails was not to set a single whisker upon the Floating Island, ever again. There hadn't even been a provision for if the cub had ever gotten better, it was just blanket banishment.

Sonic had angrily pointed out how mean that was. Knuckles had been unmoved. Sonic

had demanded an explanation. Knuckles had clammed up. Sonic had raged in anger. Knuckles had remained obstinate. Finally Sonic had declared that if Tails was unwelcome on the Floating Island, it was not longer a place the hedgehog considered fit to visit. At that, Knuckles had given the barest inkling of a flinch, the very slightest tensing of muscles, before he'd simply stated "You do what you think you must."

And that had been the end of one of the most fun rivalries Sonic had had in his entire life. Sonic and Tails had returned to their home in the Mystic Ruins. Merlin's Disease had allowed Tails to forget about their former friend, but Sonic never had. He'd always known Knuckles was a hard case, but he'd also known the echidna to be honorable and fair. That he would so suddenly turn on them… he hadn't even expected that reaction from Shadow. And now Knuckles just might be in trouble.

'_I don't owe him anything. Not anymore,'_ Sonic thought to himself as he contemplated his former comrade for the first time in two years, the old anger rising in his gut. After all the times they'd saved that STUPID island. After all the times they'd saved that stupid ECHIDNA. '_I should just let him wallow up there. 't's not like it's my problem.'_ More and more did Sonic heap on the reasons why he should just ignore Rouge's request. Knuckles had lost the right to Sonic's help two years ago.

And yet…

And yet even now Sonic couldn't deny that part of him that understood the echidna. Hadn't he spent years globetrotting; only checking in on Tails sporadically in order keep from having to think about the poor cub's problems? Was it really Knuckles's fault that his lack of social graces made him less capable of accepting such a thing? More importantly, was a grudge potentially worth the Guardian's life? Never mind the headaches having the chaos emeralds up for grabs would cause, could Sonic live with himself if he didn't at least TRY to help the echidna?

After only a few hours, the hedgehog finally came to a decision.

* * *

Twelve and a half years in the past

* * *

"Hmmmm," two voices sighed in contentment, coming from a fox and a hedgehog lying on a pair of towels on Station Square's famous beach, a giant cooler nearby and a large umbrella between them. Both creatures were each wearing a pair of swimming trunks so loud they almost bordered on obnoxious, as well as sunglasses over their eyes to prevent the yellow orbs rays from disturbing them. The only other apparel the two Mobians were wearing were a pair of flip-flops adorning their bare feet, standard footwear of beach goers everywhere. With another yawn, the duo turned over simultaneously on their towels to their bellies, allowing the streaming sunshine to warm their backs for a while. The twin tails of the fox flicked lazily about, a sure sign the adult vulpine was becoming drowsy where he laid, a fact that did not go unnoticed by his younger companion.

Sonic loved days like these, lazy days where he could just relax and let his mind wander. Though the beach was not the hedgehog's favorite place in the world (too much water for his tastes), it did offer some unique benefits over other favorite hangs. Two examples of said benefits were currently walking by; a pair of teenaged beauties wearing nothing save a pair of bikinis that only barely qualified as coverings. They were heading towards a group of such lovely creatures who were standing near a volleyball net. Casting an aside glance at his guardian, and noting the soft snoring Tails was producing, Sonic carefully pulled his limbs under his body, rising from his towel as he prepared to go get see if the volleyballers needed a cheerleader to help them out.

"It's such a lovely day," said a voice that froze Sonic in his tracks as the hedgehog just barely had gotten to his feet, "I'd hate to have to ground a young boy for setting even one foot off his towel, especially if he still wants to go to twinkle park with everyone tonight."

"Uh… Ah-ha-ha," Sonic laughed uncomfortably, unsure how Tails had caught him. The fox hadn't even opened his eyes. "I was just, uh… going to take a look around. See some interesting sights, you know."

"Uh-huh," came the fox's unconvinced response. "Trust me when I say there are no 'sights' around here so interesting you can't get a good enough view from here." Realizing this was not a battle he was going to win; the hedgehog fell backwards onto his towel in a sitting position. Tails had told him not to leave, but he hadn't said the hedgehog could still watch the volleyball game. It was probably for the best, in retrospect, as a few minutes later a group of teenage boys approached the girls and the two groups began to play with each other.

'_Ah well, another time perhaps,'_ Sonic thought as he reached into the cooler for a root beer.

Sonic had to admit, he liked the Spring Breaks here in Station Square much more than he did back in Green Hill, even if they were shorter (Green Hill having switched to a year round school year over the nine month version). Tails's parents, and by extension Sonic's grandparents, had come to visit for the week, eager to see son and grandson under conditions less dire than their last visit.

The sound of the waves attracted Sonic's attention, causing him to turn his head. He was quite delighted to see a pair of surfers riding some of the waves, performing all sorts of tricks on their boards as they moved with perfect balance. Well, almost perfect balance, as evidenced when one of the riders fell. His attention thus occupied, Sonic laid back down on his towel to enjoy the show.

"Okay Sonic, time to go," said a voice as someone began shaking the hedgehog awake. The blue quickster hadn't even realized he'd closed his eyes, let alone fallen asleep. The one shaking him turned out unsurprisingly to be Tails who had packed up his towel and the cooler as well as the umbrella and was now looking down at Sonic expectantly. Stretching a bit, Sonic lifted himself off his resting spot and casually tossed the cloth over his shoulder to carry. Thus prepared, the two headed back to the beach's parking lot where the private vehicle of the CEO of Prower Aerodynamic waited for them. "You weren't as nervous around the water as you have been Sonic," Tails noted as he drove the car back

"Yeah, it's a lot less scary when it isn't rushing up to meet you at a billion miles an hour," the hedgehog responded, though inwardly he was feeling rather proud. That was the closest he'd been to the ocean in a while. He still wasn't entirely comfortable being covered in water (even now he only took showers), but it had been a while since he'd frozen up at the mere sight of any body of water greater than a spoonful. If anything, his attempt to go play volleyball and subsequent nap were proof that his hydrophobia was, if not disappearing entirely, at least going down to manageable levels.

Quietly Sonic pushed his own amateur analysis out of his mind as he resettled on even better ideas, such as the knowledge that soon he would be going to Twinkle Park. It was the last day of Spring Break and the trip to the park was how they were going to celebrate. Not just Sonic and Tails, but Sonic's grandparents and all of his friends from school, as well as their parents, in a last hurrah before school started up again. Sonic was especially looking forward to seeing Mighty and Ray again, as both armadillo and squirrel had been out of town for most of the holidays. Carl was a great friend, but even the monkey could only do so much to make up for the loss of the other two, and Sonic was quite sure he was a poor substitute for two friends as well.

All two soon the fox pulled his car into the underground parking garage of Sky Top Towers, parking the automotive in its assigned parking spot. This time when Miles divvied up their cargo for carrying, Sonic found himself stuck not just with his own towel, but the beach umbrella too, which was all he could do to carry as they made their way to the elevator and up to their apartment. As Miles moved to open the door, the sound of two feminine voices could be heard talking.

"So I looked the man square in the eye and said, 'Look, if you're having problems understanding what I'm saying in basic common, perhaps I can go speak to your commanding officer and HE can explain what I want in terms you can understand,'" Evelyn Prower said before taking a sip of whatever was in the cup her hand held. Across the table Mrs. Axelby nodded her head sagely as she listened to the story.

"Some people believe that a little power entitles them to become tyrants of their own little world," the large woman responded. Then she looked over as the front door opened. "Hellooo Miles, hellooo Sonic."

"Ladies," Tails responded, bowing at the waist to the two females, no mean feat considering that he was still carrying the cooler. Sonic settled for a quick wave before dumping the umbrella on the floor.

"Hey Grandma, did you and Mrs. Axelby like the movie?" At the hedgehog's question,

both of the elderly matrons let out a laugh.

"Oh Sonic dear boy, it wasn't a 'movie,'" the human woman informed him. "We went to the theater to see a play. One that I, in my less experienced youth, once performed in as it happens." At this Mrs. Axelby's chest seemed to puff up a bit with pride.

"Okay, so how was the play?" the young hedgehog restated, not entirely sure why such a difference was important.

"As dreadfully boring to watch as I remember it being to perform in," the former actress asserted. "Honestly, how some of these theaters expect to remain in business with such dull fare is beyond my level of comprehension."

"Oh stop, Catherine," Mrs. Prower said playfully. "It was an excellent production. I thought the story was quite entertaining, and the actors were very well versed."

"Oh yes the actors were quite good. A lot of young talent in that crowd, but I merely lament the fact that they have to cut their teeth on such an awful play. Give me something done by the Immortal Bard, or even one of the old Greek plays for something that gives a young starlet a challenge. These new playwrights are just so concerned with not offending anyone or making their audience think about the plot." So saying Mrs. Axelby let out a sigh of remorse before looking at Sonic. "I weep for your generation, dear boy."

"S'no skin off my nose," Sonic pointed out, "movies got better special effects anyway."

"More's the pity."

"Sonic, go get yourself cleaned up so you'll be ready to go when Grandpa gets back," Tails said. Kicking off his sandals, the blue boy was off like a shot for his bathroom. With a slightly aggravated grunt, Miles picked up his son's discarded footwear and glanced at the scuff marks created on the floor from Sonic peeling out, also trying very hard not to acknowledge the smug grin on his mother's face. "Not a word, Mom, not a word."

"Not even a peep dear," Evelyn responded with a quiet smile as she took a sip of her drink.

* * *

"Yo Boy Blue! Over here!" Mighty yelled, jumping up and down and waving his hands to attract Sonic's attention, much to the embarrassment of the older female armadillo standing next to him. Angela, or Angie as she was most often known, was not known for her incredibly high tolerance for her little brother's less dignified moments. As if sensing the teen's discomfort, both Ray began to mimic his friend's actions, creating such a display as to attract the attention of everyone in the vicinity, not merely the Prower Party. Taking note of the three adults present with Sonic, Angela quickly collected herself in an attempt to distance herself from her "immature" wards.

"Mr. Prower, so good to see you," she said in a measured and very in control voice, the same voice most teenagers used when they wanted to sound more grown up than they really were. Miles extended his hand in greeting.

"Always a pleasure Angie," he responded, looking around a bit. "Where are your parents, if I may ask?"

"Mom and Dad are getting the fast passes for everyone," the teen answered, pointing towards a booth where two armadillos stood patiently only a few places from the front. "Ms**. **Squivel couldn't make it tonight, so we got stuck lugging fuzzy… I mean Ray here with us. Not sure where the Mendels are though." As Carl Mendel lived in the same building as Sonic and Miles, it was probably expected that if something had happened to change the monkey's plans, they would know about it.

"Traffic over here was simply beastly," Mrs. Prower commented. "I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they got stuck in it."

"And of course they'd take it slower, what with Mrs. Mendel in her condition," Miles pointed out. "We can afford to give them a few minutes." At the fox's words came a threefold groan from younger members of the group. While Carl was certainly their friend, it was very hard to consider waiting for the absent simian. After a few minutes they were joined by Mighty's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Armadillo, both of whom offered words of greeting to Sonic and his family. It was at this point that Angela asked to be dismissed, her babysitting duties having been discharged for the night. Apparently a few of the girl's friends from school were also at Twinkle Park and the feeling was that parents and younger siblings were not conducive to advancing social standing in high school. With orders to be at the front gates by ten, the teen left.

It was only about twenty minutes later that Ray, perched on top of Mighty's head, finally spotted the final members of their party. The two adult monkeys were indeed traveling at a slower pace than their son; mainly because of the slow gait Mrs. Mendel had to take thanks to being six months pregnant and her husband seemed to feel even a single errant misstep could shatter her like glass.

"Sorry we're late. Dad couldn't find a parking spot he liked," Carl explained.

"We're almost two hundred feet from the entrance," Mr. Mendel quipped. "It's a good thing they have that tram of theirs to pick up patrons with; otherwise I might have simply driven right into the park." This somewhat half-joking statement succeeded in getting a laugh from everyone present. But it was short lived as the four younger members of the group began to voice their desire to commence with the evening's activities.

"Come on. Now that everyone's here we can finally get to the rides," announced Mighty, his patience frayed by having to wait so long.

"Yeah, I wanna go down the Shooting Star," Ray concurred, turning to his other friends in excitement. "You guys've gotta see it! The cars actually shoot out fire so it looks like you're riding a comet!"

"Sweet! What are we wasting our time standing here for?" Sonic asked, snapping his fingers as he did so.

"Yea-Hey," Carl answered suddenly realizing the thinly veiled jab at him. A long arm suddenly came down on Sonic's head, retribution for his comment. Of course, such an attack could not go uncontested. Very soon monkey and hedgehog were rolling around on the ground, with Ray and Mighty egging the two combatants on.

"Ah-HEM!" came a noise as Mr. Armadillo reminded the quarrelers of the adults' presence. Instantly four young backs went rigid as four cheesy innocent smiles plastered themselves over four faces. "I trust bringing you four here was not something of a mistake on our part."

"Ah relax Dad, it's not like we're five or something," Mighty pointed out

"Then kindly refrain from acting like a group of uncivilized ferals, Algonquin." At the sound of his real name, Mighty's cheeks went flame red to match his shell.

"Daaaad," the pup hissed in embarrassment as his friends snickered behind him. He favored Olgilvie with a particularly venomous stare, promising to get the hedgehog back for his insensitivity. "I told you not to call me that in public."

"Okay then," Mr. Prower said, clapping his hands as he did so, "now that all that is settled, let's go check out this Shooting Star thing. Afterwards perhaps we can pay a visit to some of the games stands and I can 'school' you little munchkins in the art of winning prizes." Now it was Tails's turn to look embarrassed.

"Yeah, and we can also go to the castle funhouse," cried an excited Carl. "They're supposed to have a giant mirror maze in there."

"Well we're not going to get to see anything if we don't get a move on," pointed out Tails.

* * *

Present

* * *

"How's it hanging back there Ames?" Sonic asked as he turned his head back to look at the pink hedgehog. Amy sat in the passenger's seat of the Tornado 5, the last plane Tails had been built for Sonic before his mind had begun to go. A pair of goggles adorned her eyes, allowing her the pleasure of viewing the scenery as it zoomed by. In her arms lay the slumbering form of the plane's creator, a snug pair of earmuffs on his head to quiet the roar of the wind and rumble of the engine.

"We're doing just fine Sonic," Amy reassured her blue beau. The retired hero hadn't really intended to take either his girlfriend or his ward on this trip, even going so far as to attempt to sneak off, but Amy had been adamant about not allowing Sonic to face Knuckles on his own, especially if the echidna was still feeling belligerent. And, since this meant he had no one he could trust to leave Tails with, the fox had had to come along as well. Fortunately an abbreviated session of sleep had left the cub too groggy to really consider anything abnormal about the trio's hasty exit. Fortunately the weather had lessened a bit making take-off much easier.

According to the old global positioning equipment in Tails's lab the Floating Island was several miles off Station Square's coast. The Tornado could easily cover the distance, but it was still a three or four hour trip.

'_Which should give me plenty of time to figure out just what I'm going to say to the old knucklehead,'_ the pilot thought. '_With any luck, we can get this over with quickly and leave before he even knows Tails is on his oh so precious flying dirt clod.'_

"Hey Sonic, what if Tails wakes up before we get there? Is there… is there anything I need to tell him?"

"He should still be good from our 'pep; talk earlier, and I bet the ol' Floatin' Island'll be more than enough of a sight to occupy the little guy's mind." The fox in question fidgeted a bit in his sleep. Sonic sighed. Hopefully this would be an uneventful flight.

To Be Continued…


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: And here we are again my duckies. Sorry, watched Teen Titans with Mad Mod today. Love that villain, he's hilarious. Anywho, hopefully no one thought I was going on hiatus again. Enjoy ;D

* * *

Present

* * *

"Agh!" Knuckles yelled as he landed roughly at the bottom of the cliff. Fighting his way through the pain, he scrambled back to the cliff face, forcing his back against the rock as closely as he could while looking up. Small rocks fell from above, bouncing off the echidna's face, but he remained perfectly still, lest his pursuers see him. Bigger rocks falling indicated some one was on top of the cliff, and Knuckles held his breath for a moment or two. Finally, the sound of shifting, shuffling steps indicated they were leaving, no doubt to find a safer way down and resume tracking him.

An exhausted breath escaped his lips, even as the pain in his leg refused to subside. The cliff had only been a hundred foot drop, child's play for the Guardian of the Floating Island. Or at least it should have been.

_'Keep it together echidna, now's no time to fall apart like a little puggle,'_ he thought as he quietly shuffled away from the cliff face. '_You're not too far from a tunnel entrance. Once you're in, you can use the island's defenses to trash these jerks.'_ And indeed only twenty or so feet away Knuckles came across his objective; a hidden entrance to the network of tunnels that honeycombed the Floating Island, cleverly disguised as a tree stump. Quickly Knuckles raced to the stump, only to be sent flying backwards when his target suddenly exploded.

"A good attempt echidna, but I'm not so easy to lose," said a man holding what looked like a spear, its glowing tip fading as a light smoke wafted from it. The weapon was obviously not normal, but then the man didn't look all that normal either. He was wearing what appeared to be blue body armor, as well as rose colored, rounded glasses. His hair was a close cropped flat top, with a white streak down the middle parting the black hairs. He also had one of those obnoxious, rectangular moustaches that was no wider than his nose. Coming up behind him were four more figures, but a quick glance revealed these to be nothing more than automatons. Armed automatons.

"I don't suppose it would do any good to tell you you're trespassing," Knuckles said as he rubbed some grit from his face, getting to his feet as he did so.

"Has it ever made a difference to anyone?" the nameless man said.

"Okay, get on with it. Give me the whole spiel about how you want the Chaos Emerald for whatever reason so I can throw you and your toys off my island."

"Now who said I was after the Chaos Emerald?" the man said as he pointed his spear. "I was promised a rather large sum of money plus this absolutely marvelous little toy to turn you into the LATE Guardian of the Floating Island." A blast of energy surged from the tip straight at Knuckles, forcing the echidna to quickly dodge. His leap was not far enough to avoid getting caught by the explosive's shockwave, a fact which caused him to lose his balance and go tumbling along the ground.

"Ugh," groaned the dazed Guardian as he held his head. His attacker simply shook his head.

"I must say I am quite disappointed," the human said, a dejected look on his face. "I've hunted some of the most dangerous game in all the world, and I was quite hoping the infamous echidna of the Floating Island would prove to be the greatest hunt of my career."

"I'll try to live up to your expectations!" Knuckles yelled, charging at the intruder with his fist pulled back to deliver a blow. The punch never landed, at least not on its intended target, as one of the robots moved between the echidna and its master. "AGH!!" Knuckles howled as his fist connected with metal, the impact causing his entire arm to go numb. Angrily he fell to his knee, gripping the injured hand.

"Hmmph. I'd heard you were strong enough to punch through metal," the hunter quipped. "It seems that such reports were greatly exaggerated." Again the spear pointed and again Knuckles was forced to dodge an attack. He was breathing heavily again, not a good sign. Was he really this out of practice?

'_I have to end this, and I have to end this quickly. Otherwise I might as well dig myself a grave and crawl on in." _The four robots began to move, fanning out to surround him and give their master a better shot, standard procedure for cornered quarry. Knuckles's eyes darted to and from each of the mechanical men as he tried to remember everything he knew about fighting machines. The problem was most of what he knew tended to revolve around simply overpowering such opponents, using his strength to overwhelm their unnatural defenses. Now though, if the result of his previous attack was any indicator, such a tactic would not be a viable one. '_Go for the joints. That's the weakest point. If I can do enough damage I can escape and find another way to get into the tunnels.'_

Knuckles charged, moving in a serpentine pattern to keep the hunter and his minions from drawing a bead on him. With a final step he leapt forward, his fist extending forward to strike.

And the robot stepped backward, out of the way of the blow. The echidna had been too slow in his attack, unable to compensate for the machine's robotic reflexes. It however, was quite capable of handling him, grabbing hold of Knuckles's arms and pulling him close. The echidna struggled, but he was no match for the robot's iron grip. Painfully he was turned around to face his enemy. The human's face remained disappointed.

"Hardly worth the effort of coming to this flying dirt clod," he said as he approached Knuckles. "You have been a massive disappointment, echidna, but I'll make this quick just the same." The spear was aimed directly at the struggling Guardian's head, its tip glowing with power as it prepared to fire a deathblow.

There was a bright flash, and Knuckles prepared to join his ancestors. But such a meeting was not to take place today. Before the echidna's startled eyes the spear tip fell to the ground, its severed circuitry sparking from both ends. Less than a second later the heads of the two robots holding Knuckles suffered the same fate, followed closely by their arms.

"Did I hear someone say they wanted a challenge?" asked a voice Knuckles hadn't heard in years. With the sound of rushing wind, the blue form of Sonic Hedgehog appeared. "Because I'm always eager to please."

"Perfect; a meddler," the human stated accusingly, glaring at Sonic.

"I prefer to think of this as pre-emptive action," Sonic quipped back. "See you take out the knucklehead here, and sooner or later I'm gonna have to come up here full time to keep wannabes from snatching the emeralds, ya know?"

"Enough of this. Kill him." The two remaining robots moved forward, ready to comply with their orders. Sonic looked lazily at the two of them, allowing both to raise their weapons before he disappeared. For a few precious seconds, both robots performed a sensor sweep to locate the hedgehog. It was the last act either of them performed slashed though both of their midsections, severing their connection to their power cores.

"Now then," Sonic said, turning back to the hunter, "let's talk about which jail you'd like to spend the next dozen or so years in." From behind his back the man drew a hand gun, aiming it at the approaching hedgehog.

"You didn't really believe that spear was my sole armament, did you hedgehog?" he said grinning. Again Sonic was unimpressed as he prepared to disarm his opponent, only to watch as the need to was nullified as Knuckles leapt up let his fist connect with the man's jaw. A pained gasp escaped the echidna's lips as his attack connected, but his attack still had the desired effect, knocking out his former attacker.

Surreptously Knuckles shook his hand. Though not nearly as hard as his robots, the hunter's job had still been like punching a rock. This action was not lost on Sonic, causing the hedgehog to advance to investigate.

"Why are you here, hedgehog?" Knuckles asked in a voice that had no shortage of hostility in it. Sonic stopped for a minute, a familiar anger rising within his gut. Knuckles had never been the most welcoming of people, but this time Sonic was not overly keen to coddle echidna pride.

"What was that? 'Thanks Sonic for saving my bacon.' 'Always just in the nick of time Blue Boy.' 'Glad you could take time out of your busy life to visit and old friend when he needed you.' Were any of those the words you really wanted to come out of that flapping trap of yours?" the hedgehog retorted with an equal amount of hostility. He had to remind himself just why he was putting himself through this. Suddenly Knuckles began to look around suspiciously. It wasn't hard to guess what he was looking for, or rather who. "He's not here, if you're so concerned about it. I left Tails back at the landing strip with Amy and went looking for you. You're lucky that human made so much noise with his spear, I might not have found you in time."

"I was handling the situation just…"

"Horribly, Knux," Sonic pointed out. "Back in the day a schmuck like that couldn't have gotten within a country mile of beating you, but now you get held down by a pair of second-rate tinker toys? If that isn't a cry for help, I don't know what is. What's going down Knuckles?"

"Angel Island is a sovereign nation, hedgehog. I don't owe explanations to you or anyone else."

"Not good enough," Sonic said, grabbing hold of his former friend's arm. His hand almost completely encircled the echidna's bicep, a testament to how thin the appendage was. Indeed the Guardian's entire body looked much thinner and frailer than Sonic would have expected of someone with Knuckles's reputation. Even his famous dreadlocks looked thin and greasy. As if sensing the hedgehog's silent inspection of his physical condition, Knuckles angrily yanked his arm free.

"You have a lot of nerve, hedgehog."

"I get that a lot. You gonna tell me why you look like a red noodle?"

"It's none of your concern."

"Yeah, I know, but Rouge seems to think it's important." At the mention of the bat's name, a hurt look crossed Knuckles's face.

"She shouldn't have done that," the echidna said in a quiet voice. Then he shook his head, regaining his old swagger. "Look, you've checked up on me for her, so go and tell her I'm fine."

"You don't even remotely look fine," Sonic pointed out, his arms crossing as he went into his obstinate mode. "And since I can't keep coming up here to save your tail, I'm not leaving until I know I don't have to."

"You're treading dangerous waters, hedgehog. I suggest you leave now before I…"

"Sonic!" a familiar feminine voice called through the woods, followed closely by a second call in another familiar voice that was in a higher pitch. Sonic looked over his shoulder in the direction the sounds were coming from, and most likely the trail Amy and Tails were following.

"I thought you said they were back at the landing strip," Knuckles said in a nasty tone.

"Oh like this is the first time either one of them has followed me into a dangerous situation," Sonic half joked back before turning to face Knuckles again. The horrified expression on the echidna's face caught the hedgehog by surprised. Realizing he was again being stared at, Knuckles once more mastered himself, glaring at Sonic.

"I told you before Sonic, Tails isn't allowed on this island anymore. Get him off within the hour or I'll notify G.U.N. you're willfully violating the laws of the Floating Island." Before Sonic could retort to this ultimatum, Knuckles was gone, disappeared down one of the many boltholes that littered the island. While understandably angered by the unreasonable demand, Sonic had not been altogether surprised. Time may have been able to heal all wounds, but it did nothing to an echidna. What did surprise him was the fact that Knuckles had used G.U.N. to threaten them. Since when had the Guardian of the Floating Island felt the need to use a third party to protect himself?

Just as Sonic was mulling this over in his mind, Tails and Amy made their way to his location, Amy's hammer resting on her shoulder in the expectation of trouble. Tails was the first the notice Sonic's unconscious prisoner.

"Who's that guy?" the cub asked

"The second biggest idiot on this island," Sonic responded.

"Things didn't go so well with Knuckles, huh?" Amy surmised.

"About as well as can be expected," her blue beau answered. He pulled a length of rope out of the backpack Amy was carrying and proceeded to tie up the hunter carefully before continuing. "But Rouge was definitely right. Something's up with him and it ain't good."

"So what do we do now?" Tails asked, all ready for an adventure. In his mind he was picturing Sonic and himself scouring the island looking for the wayward echidna, dodging traps and enemies as they did so. That the traps and enemies in his dream seemed a little too accurate to be merely fantasy never once fazed the boy.

"First thing we do is head back to the Tornado and let G.U.N. know about this loser." Sonic grabbed hold of the unconscious human and hefted him over his shoulder. The man was big, but Sonic had gained a few inches in height over the years and, while he was still only a little more than half as tall as the average human, it was enough to keep his captive from being dragged along in the dirt. That the sprinter had become stronger as well as faster in his intervening years also aided in the carrying. "Tails, pick up as much of those robots as you can. Someone paid and outfitted this guy to go after Knux, and maybe those 'bots'll give us some idea who." Quickly Tails complied with his guardian's commands, hustling off to grab severed arms and broken bits. As Sonic watched, he couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. He certainly had not been that obedient when he'd been that age. Quickly the fox returned to his friends' sides, his arms full of machine parts as Amy looked at Sonic quizzically, unsure what she was supposed to do. "Ames, if this jerk even twitches funny before we get back to the plane, nail him with your hammer. No telling what other tricks he's got up his sleeve, and I'm not overly interested in finding out."

"Gotcha Sonic." Thus prepared, the trio began their hike back to the Angel Island landing strip.

* * *

Past (Twelve and a half years ago)

* * *

Bartholomew Prower, Barty to his friends, and there were precious few of them left these days, walked into the study that belonged to his son, his movements the controlled stride of a man used to discipline. It may have been several years since he'd been a part of the military, but some habits could never be broken. Inside he found Miles sitting in an armchair, fiddling determinedly with something in his hands. Were he capable of such an action, sweat would be rolling down the vulpine's brow but, as it was, his tongue did protrude from his closed mouth as he concentrated. This was not a sight in and of itself unusual. Miles was a tinkerer by nature, and it would have been a much worse sign had he been sitting in the chair doing nothing. The object in his hands, however, was something of a shocker.

"You're working on that puzzle box again? How many times do you have to solve that thing before it becomes boring?" the elder fox asked, laughing a bit as he did so. The puzzle box in question was about the size of a large rubix cube and made of wood that looked quite old. Odd markings appeared all over its surface, some merely carved etchings, others indicating pieces that could be slid about. Currently several such pieces had been moved about by their owner's hand.

"Not again; still," his son answered back.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not solving it again, I've never solved this devious little monstrosity," the fox inventor admitted. An audible click suddenly sounded from his hands. "But maybe this time…" Muscles flexed as Miles attempted to open the box, though he was careful not to put his full strength into it. The last thing he wanted was to break the seemingly fragile item. For what must have been the hundredth time, the box refused to open. A soft growl of frustration escaped Miles lips. "Sometimes I think Mom gave me this thing simply to try my patience."

"Ha, you can put together a full sized plane with a blindfold on, but a simple toy is able to stymie you for years." As he spoke, Bartholomew pulled out a brown pipe from his pocket, gripping it in his canines before padding down his other pockets searching for something.

"I thought the doctor told you you weren't allowed to smoke that thing anymore? Especially after that scare you had."

"Fie on that man. According to him, I'm not supposed to do anything anymore. What's the point of living forever if you have nothing left to enjoy?" The elder fox finally found the small, drawstring bag he was search for and emptied a small quantity of tobacco into the pipe's bowl. "I don't suppose you happen to have a match about, hmm?" Miles favored his father with a look that contained all his thoughts on the absurdity of such a statement. "Well, it is not as though I am without my own resources." So saying, Mr. Prower pulled forth a flimsy restaurant matchbook and proceeded to light his pipe. For a few brief seconds he gently puffed, nurturing the young flame with fresh, oxygen rich air. Soon a contented breath escaped his mouth, along with some gray smoke, and he cupped the pipe in his hand and moved further into the study. At his son's drawing desk he spotted what looked like the beginnings of some plans. Though an aviator himself, Bartholomew Prower had not the engineering knowledge his progeny did, so he was never quite sure what he was staring at on the drawing board. Still he always took a bit of pride in seeing his son's work in its earliest phases, even if he didn't completely understand it. Again he puffed his pipe, careful to turn away from the drawing board lest an errant ash land on the paper and smudge something critical.

It was then that the door to the study opened again, this time to admit Evelyn Prower, looking a bit more disheveled than she usually did.

"Ah dear, is everything all right?" Bartholomew asked, his pipe still gripped between his teeth as his wife entered the room proper.

"Everything's fine of course. Sonic has been washed up and put down for the evening. That boy certainly is able to cover himself in chili-dog sauce, isn't he?" As she spoke, the matronly fox expertly snagged the pipe from her husband's mouth and plunked it down into the glass of soda her son had resting near him, extinguishing its flame.

"Hey," both males yelped in unison. A clawed finger was pointed at each in turn, starting with the elder of the pair.

"You know better than to be smoking in my presence. You already broke stride tonight with that low cholesterol diet the doctor gave you, the last thing you need is to puff that disgusting old pipe." Her husband suitably cowed, the finger of accusation then turned to her son. "And you should know better than to let him get away with it at all, particularly with a small child in your house. The last thing a boy like Sonic needs is for all that smoke to get into his lungs."

"Yes Ma'am," both said again. Dressing downs completed, a smile returned to Evelyn's face as she found herself a chair to sit down in. It was then that she too noticed the object in Miles's hands.

"Goodness gracious, you still play with that thing?"

"It helps me to reset my mind, especially when I'm having trouble coming up with new ideas."

"Yes, I know that feeling," his father said. "It was fishing for me that helped get my brain cells back in line." Bartholomew had moved over to a shelf case, pulling down a model F-22 Raptor to inspect.

"Hmm, I've just been drawing a blank lately," Miles admitted. "I've had some… inklings, but between actually having to run the company and trying to make time for Sonic…" At these words, both of his parents looked at each other, concern on their faces. Miles caught the look. "I don't mean anything by that, honest. I knew full well adopting him would necessitate a large chunk of my time. I'm fine with that. If anything, it's the company running that's wiping me out worse, especially with all the meetings with the lawyers I'm having to take."

"Lawyers?"

"Prower Aerodynamic is being sued."

"Sued?!" Mr. Prower cried, indignation in his voice. "Outrageous! Who in their right mind would be suing you? Don't tell me, Cyberdyne's crying foul over some perceived similarity between your product and one of their knock-offs, trying to pretend YOU'RE the one pilfering secrets."

"No, no, Jonathan's been quiet. This is actually coming form a small R&D start-up out near Empire City called MeteoTech."

"What in heaven's name could they have against you?"

"They don't have the tech level we do, so they wanted us to run some tests and crunch some numbers on some theoretical work they were doing in bio-electric energy and techno-organic hybridization. They even had a prototype machine we could use to run the experiments but…" Memories of the mechanical protozoa he'd seen in the research labs came back into Miles's mind. "I was unsettled by some of the results. And I wasn't the only one. I nixed the contract and sent them back their money along with all their data and equipment as well as the stuff we figured out. And now they're suing us."

"Trying to get more money out of you for breach of contract?"

"No actually. Money's not the point. If it was, I'd write them a check just to get them off my back. What they want is for us to continue the experiments and finish developing their ideas. The guy in charge even called me up and said point blank that if it was merely a question of money, I could name the price on my end. And he's been calling me every day harassing me about it."

"Who is this guy?"

"Some doctor with more than brain cells and zero charisma when it comes to dealing with other people." Miles stood up and walked over to the glass cabinet that held his most treasured possessions, replacing the puzzle box in its traditional place next to what looked like a curved piece of blue scrap metal with what looked like a talon painted on it. "In any event, the man's proven rather stubborn, but that's it. It's nothing we can't handle." At that point the young fox stretched. "Well, I hate to say this, but I'm feeling rather wiped from the day."

"Not as spry as you used to be?" Bartholomew quipped with a chuckle as he took his son's chair.

"Says the man who had to take five rest stops over the course of the evening," Miles quipped back as he kissed his mother goodnight and left the room.

* * *

Two months later

* * *

Sonic faced the end of the school year with a mixture of excitement and, more interestingly, regret. Back in the Green Hill Orphanage, school had been a year round affair, if only to give the children something to do for the majority of the day. Sonic had often fantasized about what he'd do if he didn't have to go to school for an extended period of time. When Tails had not immediately taken him to classes after adopting him, Sonic had, in his naiveté, held out the slight hope that he was no longer going to need to go to school. Childish in retrospect, but still, a kid could dream. Now though.

He'd gotten rather used to going to school each day. Sure the weekends where he didn't were fun, but Sonic was not so foolish as to fail to realize that day in, day out with nothing to do would get boring. There was a fine line between relaxing and going stir crazy. And besides, while the classes could be boring, school was also where he got to hang with his buds. Unfortunately, summer break also meant many parents were scrambling to find something to occupy their children's time. For Mighty and Ray it meant a return to Never Lake and summer camp, while Carl was supposed to be visiting his Aunt and Uncle over in Soleanna. Sonic had asked his father if he could go to summer camp too, but Mr. Cervid had pointed out that Sonic had missed a great many school days thanks to the Battle Birds' attack on the city. Though his grades were not bad, if he did not wish to be held back a year and thusly separated from his friends, it would be important for him to attend summer school to make up the hours.

Needless to say it had surprised Sonic to learn that the deer was paying that much attention to him, especially considering Cervid's stated outline of his official duties did not include the hedgehog cub. Why he'd felt the need to display his interest at that point, however…

"Tough break about having ta go to summer school, Blue," Mighty said as he clapped Sonic on the back consolingly. "I hoped you'd get to come to the camp this year."

"Ta… Dad says next year, so long as I don't get kidnapped by any feathered nutjobs with goofy names," Sonic replied, just a little crestfallen. He'd seen pictures of the camp via Mighty and Ray and it looked like it was a blast; excluding the lake of course, though even that looked rather nice from the pictures.

"Still, I was kinda lookin' forward to you being there. You'da been a big help in the end of summer games, 'ceptin' the water sports of course." A slightly annoyed look crossed Sonic's face as he looked at his armadillo friend.

"I'm so sorry me going to summer school has ruined your plans to sweep the summer camp competition."

"Ah don't sweat it," Mighty returned, ignoring the irritated look as though it were nothing. "You can make it up to me next year." This attitude, of course, elicited a quick punch to the armadillo's yellow shoulder. "Ouch!"

"Hand slipped."

"Uh-huh. Anyway, summer school doesn't start for a week or two yet and it's not like me an' the guys are leaving the moment the bell rings." Which was true enough They still had plenty of time to hang out before they went their separate ways. It was then that the final bell chose to ring. The classroom was a flurry of activity as students practically upended their chair/desks getting up, all while the teacher reminded them not to forget any of their possessions. Mighty, stronger than other kids his age, even humans,, muscled his way through the crowd with Sonic following closely in his wake, determined to get to the front door first. Soon they were joined by Carl and Ray, both of whom looked fairly harried from the day's activities. They just made it to freedom before a hand grabbed hold of Ray's shoulder, yanking the smaller squirrel away from his friends.

Sonic was the first to notice they were short one flying squirrel and he leapt up onto the concrete side of the school's stairway for a look around. He quickly spotted the golden Mobian near some bushes, back turned to the wall by a big crocodile. Sonic had seen the lizard before, he was a fifth grader and something of a troublemaker if the fact that he was in the Principal's office at least as often as Sonic himself was any indicator. Ray didn't seem overly thrilled to be in the croc's presence, as evidenced by him doing his shirking violet routine and trying to disappear into the brickwork. Deciding this may be an event in which he needed to intervene, Sonic made his way over to the two.

"I'm telling ya fuzzy, I'm getting mighty tired of you dodging me," the crocodile said, crossing his scaly arms as he gave his quarry an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry Vector, I wasn't trying to…"

"Don't feed me that line, squirrel. You were trying to duck out without giving me my money weren't you?" Vector asked, looming somewhat menacingly over Ray.

"Hey! Scaley!" Sonic yelled in his most authoritative and, he hoped, intimidating voice. The teen turned around to face the hedgehog, and Sonic really began to notice how much larger the crocodile was than him. Silently he questioned why Ray couldn't attract aggressors closer to his own size.

"Do I know you?" Vector asked.

"Name's Sonic. Sonic Prower. And I don't like bullies threatening my friends." The crocodile snorted at this.

"Sonic huh? Yeah, I heard of you. You're supposed to be a pretty fast runner. So why don't you just run on home so me and this little rat can finish our business up." Vector began to turn back towards Ray.

"Why don't you just make me," Sonic bit back, putting as much bravado into his voice as he could as he balled his hands into fists. Though he was much shorter than the croc, he wasn't entirely defenseless. On advice from his personal assistant, Tails had enrolled his son in a self defense class, one that specialized in allowing kids to defend themselves from adult abductors. While Sonic wasn't exactly the "Super Kung-Fu Master" he might have wanted to be, it wasn't entirely impossible that he would be able to take Vector on solo.

Thankfully the need for him to do so evaporated.

"Everything all right here?" the familiar sound of Mighty's voice asked as the armadillo casually walked up, cracking his knuckles and giving Vector a momentary pause. Sonic might have been known more for his running prowess than ability to fight, but everybody knew Mighty was a tough customer, and his presence more than evened the odds in their favor.

"This hasn't got a thing to do with you, dillo, so just back off," Vector pointed out, holding up his hands as if to ward off an impending assault. Beside Sonic Carl turned up, though his body looked less tense than Mighty's.

"Seems to me that when a guy twice the size of one of my friends is making all sortsa noise about being owed something that is my business" the armadillo retorted, smacking his right fist into his left hand. Reptilian eyes narrowed as Vector rounded again on Ray, who curiously had not looked relieved even with the timely arrival of his friends. In fact, the squirrel looked just a bit embarrassed.

"Was this you stupid little plan, Squivel? You welch on me all month then get you friends to tell me to leave you alone so you don't have to pay up."

"No Vector, honest I…"

"Man, I went outta my way to get you that stupid card you needed and this is the thanks I get." At the mention of the word "card," three sets of eyes went wide. Even Mighty seemed to deflate a bit as he cast his gaze at the now blushing Ray.

"Ray, what is he talking about?" Mighty asked as his friend gave him an embarrassed smile.

"Well, it's just that I… kinda… sorta… owe Vector here twenty dollars."

"WHAT?!"

"How'd that happen?" Mighty asked, tromping over right past Vector and up to the squirrel.

"I kinda… sorta…"

"Oh for the luva…" Vector called, clearly tired of this. "Two months ago your friend came up to me about this card he wanted, some tournament he was going to get to play in." Suddenly Sonic, Mighty, and Carl were all glaring at their golden friend who could only scratch his head. "So I went out and found a guy with the card he wanted and set up a deal for him. A whole chain of 'em if you wanna know. Took me a whole week to get everything to everyone who wanted their stuff. And this little penny pincher promised me twenty bucks for my trouble. Only every time I keep trying to get it from him, he disappears."

"Ray…"

"It's not my fault, really," the squirrel protested. "I had the money I really did, but then I got this excellent deal on a Kumodian Dragon and…"

"And you spent my money on it. Just great."

"That's low Ray," Sonic said, very much perturbed by his friend's apparent lack of ethics.

"No, no, you don't understand. I thought if I could just hold out for a few more weeks, I'd save enough from my allowance to pay you back."

"That wasn't the deal fuzzy! I want my money. You had no right to spend it on another dumb card when you still owed me." It was at this point that Mighty felt the need to grip the bridge of his nose.

"Where's the card Ray?" he asked. Realizing what was going to happen, the flying squirrel suddenly clutched his backpack and began shaking his head frantically.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no…" he said plaintively, his hand held over a very particular pocket.

"You didn't pay him Ray, you gotta give the card back."

"I don't want the stupid card you twits, I don't play the stupid game. Squirrel boy here owes me money and that's what I want," Vector explained. Ray looked a bit relieved at this, his muscles relaxing as he stopped gripping his treasured deck of cards. At least until Vector added, "If you aren't going to pay me fair and square, maybe I should take it up with your Granny. Bet she'd love to know you're stiffin' people on what you owe them." Immediately Ray's fur stood on end and he looked pleadingly at Mighty. This wasn't the first time the squirrel's hobby had gotten him into trouble, and if Mrs. Squivel found out he was spending money he didn't have again, she'd be furious. Most likely Ray's entire collection would get thrown out as a result, including the deck of cards he prized so highly. Mighty groaned, already knowing what he had to do.

"How much money do you have on you Ray?" he asked. Immediately the fuzzy flyer began to rummage though his pack pockets, desperate for a way out of this situation.

"I've got five bucks on me, but I have ten more at home," he said, holding up the money hopefully. Mighty let out an exasperated sigh, grabbing hold of the bill as he turned towards his other two friends, neither of whom looked overly pleased to have been remembered.

"Guys, I hate to ask this but…" And so the collection plate was passed. All three chipped in five dollars each, though both of Sonic and Carl favored Ray with annoyed look. The money thus collected, Mighty offered it to Vector. "Here, will this keep you from telling Granny Squivel about this?" The crocodile snatched up the money, counting it as thought expecting that Mighty had pulled a fast one.

"Well, I should charge you extra for all the trouble I had to go through to get this," Vector replied as he finished counting. At this pronouncement, Ray let out a distressed squeak/ "But I guess I can be lenient in response to such a display of camaraderie." The teen stuffed the money into his jacket pocket, pointing a finger at Ray. "But next time you need my help fuzzy, you better have the means to pay for it up front, got it." With that proclamation, Vector walked off and Ray released his final sigh of relief.

"Thanks guys, I really thought I was going to… HEY!" A quick hand zipped into the suddenly unprotected pocket and pulled out a deck box made of green plastic and decorated with several stickers depicting fearsome monsters. Quickly stepping away from the suddenly grabby squirrel, Mighty opened the box and pulled out the deck of forty cards, casually flipping through them. "Is this the card that just cost me my snack money?" he asked, holding out a specific card that pictured a gleaming white Pegasus with sapphires in its wings on it. Unsure what was going to happen, Ray nodded sheepishly.

"Please Mighty, don't hurt it. It's too important."

"Geez Ray, relax. It's just a piece of paper, I'm not gonna hurt it," the armadillo replied, handing that single card back to his squirrely friend. Then he proceeded to divide up the rest of the deck into three equal piles and hand thirteen cards each to Carl and Sonic.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"You owe each of us money Ray, so we're gonna hold onto a third of your deck each. That way, when you pay us back, you'll get your cards back," Mighty said, his voice sounding very reasonable.

"NO!!" Ray practically squealed. "Guys please, you can't do this to me. There's an end of school tournament going on at Ichthor's Comic Palace Monday and I need my deck if I'm gonna win and I won't get my allowance till Wednesday."

"You telling me that outta all those thousands of cards you got at your place you can't make a spare deck?" Mighty asked as he, Carl, and Sonic all turned to leave, a desperate Ray trailing behind them.

"That's a tier one deck you goofs just split up, unbeatable. I can't just throw a bunch of cards together and be competitive." The squirrel began to plead. "Come on guys, what's five bucks among friends."

"Three chili-dogs at the vendor outside my place," Sonic quipped.

"I got it! How about I do all your homework for a week AND pay you guys back. That'd be a fair trade off for the cards."

"Ray, school's out for summer," Carl pointed out. "The only one who's gonna have any homework is Sonic and you're not even gonna be around for that."

"ARGH! This isn't fair! I spent so much time putting a winning deck together and now I can't use it."

"Yeah, well maybe next time you'll think before you get yourself into this situation. Till then I'm sure there's a violin somewhere playing just for you." As the four friends made their way over to where the school buses had convened, Ray continued his pleading, heedless of the fact that his begging was falling on deaf ears.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note 2: You ever notice how things don't always go as planned? Here I wanted to start focusing on the present segments, and I keep finding myself drawn to the past segments. Of course it doesn't help that there's just so much backstory to explore and I also don't want to depress my readers with too much tragedy (Some of you have guessed at some of the events that have to rake place and frankly taking it all at once would depress me. And I'm the fanboy that came up with this story. :D) Still, we're gonna keep moving here. I know it seems like this chapter was a lot talking heads, but I promise I dropped a lot of important things here for everyone to see. Hopefully the next chapter will have more action though. Anyway, questions, comments, don't forget to review! Ciao for now.


	10. Chapter 10 redux

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long, the chapter ran kinda longer than I anticipated. Hope no one thought I was taking another yearlong hiatus. XD In any event, you know the drill. If you read, please review. Oh yeah, and before I forget, thanks to both of my anonymous reviewers, Gamenoise and myself. And to answer your question, myself, Merlin's disease is causing Tails to age in reverse, meaning that he went from being 10 (his age as of the last game as I know it) down to 8 as he currently is. All right, everybody caught up? Then lets begin.

Addendum: Well since everyone's been pointing out that I missed a whole bunch of typos and errors when I originally uploaded this chapter, I decided to go back and re-edit and upload again. For those of you who already read this chapter, nothing major's changed, I just edited spelling and grammar, so if you don't feel like re-reading you won't miss anything other than my beautiful prose. XD Hopefully this is better, so everyone will be happy.

* * *

Present

* * *

"Okay buddy, let's go," the G.U.N. soldier barked to Hunter as he shoved the mercenary towards the G.U.N. transport that currently sat next to the Tornado.

"What's the matter, officer, afraid these cuffs aren't going to be strong enough to hold me?" the arrogant prisoner snipped back, even as he moved forward, his hands behind his back. Nearby Sonic watched the procession with half interest. The soldiers would no doubt take Hunter back to Station Square where, hopefully, someone would remember the man needed to be interrogated for the name of his employer rather than shunted into a cell for awhile. Though the Floating Island was recognized, at least theoretically, as its own sovereign landmass, its lack of any sort of holding cells meant Knuckles either had to rely on the local military to take custody of and remove his prisoners, or simply toss them off the island. Since the prospect of bodies falling from the sky appealed to NO ONE on the surface, local governments were fairly quick to respond to a request for pick-up. Of course that didn't mean they were always overly concerned with prosecution. Still, G.U.N. tended to be better about such things than most, having personally witnessed numerous occasions where incursions onto the Floating Island ended up leading to world devastating scenarios.

Satisfied Hunter was secure, Sonic's complete attention now turned to the field technician that had come along with the soldiers to inspect the damaged robots. Tails was peering over the shoulder of the man, no doubt tolerated in deference to what was still perceived as the most technologically innovative mind on the planet. In the fox's current state Sonic knew better, and hoped the cub was not unduly distracting the human from his work. Quickly the hedgehog fast stepped over.

"So have you found anything out, eh, Lieutenant?" he asked, noting the rank insignia on the man's shoulder.

"Too early to tell yet, Mr. Hedgehog," the youth said, with just a bit of deference in his voice. Though probably a touch older than Sonic himself, the man had most likely started his career just about the same time Sonic had started saving the world. Even semi-retired, Sonic couldn't help but feel just a little bit prideful when someone recognized him. "The tech here is old, six or seven years out of date at least, but it's still innovative. Someone who really knows robotics put these things together."

"'Really knows robotics,' huh?" Sonic asked, his mind already compiling a list of the usual suspects such a statement conjured. A list with exactly one name on it.

"Yeah, at least that's what it seems like. But this isn't the first time these boys have been in battle and that's the puzzling thing."

"What do you mean?" a curious Tails asked as he looked at the downed bots.

"Uh, well, they may have been made by a genius, but whoever got them later did a slapdash job of fixing them up." As he spoke, the Lieutenant began to point out what he'd seen; wires held together by electrical tape, shoddy welding on the armor, missing screws, patched hoses, and several corroded mechanisms in the joints. Even the CPU in the head was much less impressive than Sonic would have expected, with missing components on the motherboard and circuits that were just shy of being nigh unusable. The hedgehog almost felt like he hadn't so much as defeated the mechanical men as put them out of their misery.

"Why would someone send such a cruddy robot after Knuckles?" Tails asked, breaking his guardian out of his repose. He might have seconded the cub's question, but a sudden, faint sound came to the hedgehog's ears, causing him to cast a quick glance around. Even as his head did not move, his triangular ears twitched ever so slowly as he zeroed in on the source of the sound.

"I'm not entirely sure keed, but I'm bettin' we'll find out," Sonic finally said. "Uh, if you'll excuse me for a second though..."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothin', nothin'. Just gotta go use the little hedgehog's room," Sonic assured his young friend with a smile. For a few brief moments Sonic's form flickered before he suddenly disappeared.

* * *

Not too far away, covered by the bushes and undergrowth of the forest, someone was watching the proceedings with a fair amount of interest. Though Knuckles told himself he was just being a good Guardian and making sure the intruders left his island, the fact that his eyes kept straying to a singular member of the group seemed to indicate otherwise.

_ 'He looks so much younger than I remember him,'_ the echidna thought to himself as he watched Tails poking around the robots with the G.U.N. Lieutenant. _'Poor guy, I can't imagine what it would be like to live your life backwards like that. Maybe I should speak to him at least. The way Sonic acted, I probably won't get another chance.'_ Knuckles weighed the option in his mind, but shook his head. Fair weather friends were despicable people, and no one benefitted from having them around. Better to allow Tails to continue believing whatever lie Sonic had concocted for him than spoil it by opening old wounds.

All too quickly a familiar pain came to the former warrior's joints from being crouched too long, a pain that was not helped by the stiffness he felt from his earlier exertions. With a low groan, the last of the echidnas shifted his weight a bit as he tried to get comfortable. When he looked up again he noticed Sonic was now next to Tails and the technician. An instant later the hedgehog had disappeared and Knuckles didn't have to be a genius to figure out why. Quickly, albeit not as much so as he might have during his youth, the echidna turned to leave, heading towards another of the secret passages he used to traverse the island. He got no more than a foot before slamming into a blue obstacle and being sent to the ground. That the force of the blow only caused Sonic to step back while sending Knuckles sprawling was not lost on the echidna.

"You know Knux, you used to be a lot sturdier," Sonic expounded, as though such a fact needed to be pointed out. "Better at keeping yourself hidden too." From where he laid Knuckles merely glared at the hedgehog. Slapping away an offered hand, the echidna angrily got to his feet.

"I thought I told you people to leave my island," he stated, his voice dead and even, a typical tactic he'd often employed when he didn't want to discuss things with someone.

"Yeah but since you're about as capable of making us as a chili-dog is of not being lunch, I thought we'd stick around for a bit," Sonic responded, goading the echidna. "Maybe I'll scope out a good location for a vacation home, you know. I bet the altitude will give Tails and me a real rush."

"Don't push me, hedgehog," Knuckles growled back, trying to put on his best "Shadow Sneer." While such an act might have looked fearsome on the black hedgehog, Knuckles shallow face was not really up to the task of pulling it off. In point of fact it only served to highlight how tired the echidna looked.

"Don't see why I shouldn't. Ain't like you can do anything about it." It was then that Knuckles decided to act, throwing a wicked punch at Sonic. It wasn't a bad punch as far as punches went. Against any average opponent, and indeed some of the better fighters out there, Knuckles's blow would probably have been the last one they ever saw. But against someone like Sonic who knew his former rival's moves inside and out, it was laughably pathetic. The punch was telegraphed almost for a mile and sluggish too compared to other attacks the echidna used. And there was practically no force, no real passion behind it. Just the wounded pride of a warrior already feeling defeated.

It was child's play for Sonic to dodge the punch. The second one fared no better, striking nothing but air thanks to the hedgehog's matchless speed. Knuckles huffed in anger and for a moment Sonic wondered if he should beware some vengeance from the surrounding forest. The echidna was a master of traps afterall. Instead Knuckles recklessly threw himself forward, attempting to strike his opponent with a haymaker. That this attack was slower than his first two jabs meant again that Sonic had little trouble dodging, though this time the attack caused Knuckles to lose his balance and again fall to the forest floor.

For a brief moment Sonic considered laughing at the funny sight. In the olden days he probably would have, if only rub the always haughty Knuckles's face in it. But now…

"Rouge was right. You aren't at the top of your game, not even close," Sonic pointed out again as Knuckles managed to pull himself to his hands and knees, already breathing hard.

"Shutupshutupshutup SHUT UP!" Knuckles practically roared, his hand closing around some dirt that he could throw at Sonic. Not accustomed to dirty fighting from the normally honorable echidna, Sonic was caught completely by surprise as the dirt clod struck him in the eyes, temporarily blinding him. The dirty attack was quickly followed up by a hard punch to the hedgehog's stomach, which was itself followed by an uppercut to the chin. "Still say I'm weak hedgehog?" the echidna growled as he loomed over his stricken opponent, watching as Sonic cleaned the gunk from his eyes, a shifty smile on his face.

"As a matter of fact," Sonic's body flickered just before he disappeared and suddenly a sharp pain came to Knuckles's shoulder as his arm found itself being bent back behind him, his hand almost touching his shoulder-blade as he was forced to his knee, "I do."

"Argh," the echidna yelled as he struggled to escape the arm-lock. Sonic continued to shift his grip with his captive's struggles, holding him in place with minimal effort.

"Come on Knux, I know I'm great but you're supposed to be better than this," the hedgehog chided.

"Let GO of ME!" Knuckles growled, sounding very fierce. The fact that all he could do was growl took a great deal of the intimidation out of it. Beneath his hands Sonic could feel the Guardian's muscles actually straining as he tried to out muscle his captor, something he should have been able to do with no problems whatsoever. Using a quick shove Sonic threw Knuckles forward, stepping backwards quickly out of the echidna's range and into a crouch, ready to spring at necessity's urging.. But there came no retaliation as Knuckles just continued to breathe heavily on the ground. Sonic was still cautious, especially after the surprising dirty trick that had been formerly employed. For a few minutes both combatants remained motionless, the only sound the huffing and puffing coming from the echidna.

Triangular ears prickled a little as another sound was also heard.

"Damn you hedgehog," came a whispered curse, repeated over and over again. It wasn't difficult to understand who was saying such words.

"What's going on Knuckles?" the hedgehog asked, his voice so neutral and serious it seemed almost alien even to Sonic's own ears. "This isn't like you, not at all." When no answer was forthcoming, Sonic decided to appeal to the echidna's pride. "You're supposed to be the best fighter on the planet. Unstoppable to everything except maybe death, and even then that's a big maybe. And here you are on the ground after only a few hits. What's happened?" No answer came from the still echidna. Sonic grunted a bit from where he crouched, his patience with the crimson Mobian growing thin. He was used to Knuckles being obstinate and secretive, that was as much a part of his character as the large fists his physique. But this wasn't stubbornness, this was petulance; like a whining little baby who didn't want to admit he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. Knuckles was throwing a tantrum, and Sonic would be a slowmo before he had to take care of some overgrown baby. "Fine. You don't want to tell me, fine," he said angrily. "I have enough on my hands trying to keep Tails in one piece; I don't need to deal with a baby puggle too. But you better believe I'm gonna tell this to G.U.N." Suddenly, Knuckles's back straightened as his muscles clenched. "I'm serious. I'm not gonna leave here just to come back a few weeks later cause you let yourself be killed by the next Eggman wannabe and he's now got the chaos emeralds. Maybe I should just take 'em all to make sure…"

"RAWR!" Knuckles growled as he charged forward, swinging wildly and recklessly as he closed with the surprised Sonic. The echidna was running on pure fury and adrenaline as he swung, forcing the hedgehog to block rather than evade. Sonic grunted. Weakened or not, Knuckles was still very much a powerhouse. Suddenly a new surprise appeared as a red leg was thrust upwards, attempting to kick Sonic's gut. Knuckles was a boxer, not a martial artist, and his legs were used exclusively for springing, running, and other methods of propulsion. It was for this reason the kick was wild and it might have been an easy move to dodge if its addition to the echidna's repertoire were not again such a surprise. As it was, Sonic did barely manage to evade the attack, the movement costing him his balance as he did. A giant fist slammed into the side of the hedgehog's face, driving the blue one into a tree where Knuckles could easily use his still very much superior strength to pin him.

Sonic glanced at the echidna. Knuckles looked furious, his teeth gritted and his eyes blazing as he glared at Sonic. What got the hedgehog's attention most, though, was the trail of tears going down the echidna's muzzle.

"If you want those stupid, worthless rocks so much, then go ahead and take 'em, but LEAVE! ME! ALONE!!" With that, Knuckles jerked to the side hard, throwing Sonic roughly into a tree. Sonic grunted as he crumpled to the ground, his head aching as he fought to remain conscious. Thus it was that he caught sight of Knuckles as he hobbled over to a tree stump and flipped open the top. Casting an angry, hateful look back at Sonic, the Guardian of the Floating Island disappeared down the secret passageway.

* * *

Past (12 and a half years ago)

* * *

"Come on Sonic, wake up," Miles's voice quietly called as he gently shook his son's shoulder. For a brief moment the hedgehog cringed as he lay on his belly, his face buried in his arms, but soon he slowly lifted his head. Sonic's large eyes were red and puffy, a clear indicator he'd been crying for an extended period of time. That there were dark lines under them showed he had not slept much the night previous either, something that was not overly surprising to his adoptive father. Sonic looked a Miles in silence for a moment before sniffing, noticing the vulpine's own blue eyes were also tinged in red. "Come on kid, we gotta get ready." Miles strode over to the suitcase he had hastily packed before they'd left Station Square, opening it so he could begin rummaging around. "Go clean yourself up. Grandma won't like such a disheveled face." Still not saying a word, Sonic sniffled again, but slowly and almost grudgingly slid off the bed that had once served as his father's when he was a boy. Dejectedly grabbing hold of a towel he shuffled through the bathroom door, turning on the light as he went. The sound of running water soon reached the fox's ears, as did the slow splashing sound of hands catching the water.

Soon Sonic re-entered the bedroom, his facial fur just a little damper than it had been before, but his eyes a bit clearer as moisture returned to them. Soon they fell upon the small suit that had been laid out on the bed, clearly in expectation of being worn. A part of hedgehog boy wanted to ball the thing up and throw it out the convenient window, but the last thing he wanted to do right now was cause Miles more grief. Carefully Sonic slipped on the shirt, a custom made job his father had gotten him. While the material was not impervious to cutting or tearing, it would hardly be useful if it was, it was far more resistant to such acts than any other fabric that existed. Supposedly it had a metal mesh woven into it that allowed it to endure constantly being rubbed and poked by sharp hedgehog quills. All Sonic knew was that the thing could get hot to wear, even more so when he had to put on the jacket that went with it. The pants were a similar material, at least in the seat where the last of Sonic's quills protruded and could still provide embarrassing tears, but all that meant was that they were equally hot to wear. The thing he hated the most was the shoes. They were the standard fair for a suit; black, shiny, and, most irritatingly, inflexible. They were also not made of the same material as Sonic's normal sneakers, which meant he could not run in them, at least not like he could in his sneaks. Not that he'd want to as the dress shoes pinched his toes and could rub his feet raw. Miles had told him he could wear the things around the house to break them in, but Sonic had preferred his normal footwear. Now as he slid his sock covered feet into them, the hedgehog wished he had taken the advice.

Leaving the dreaded jacket for later, Sonic draped the dark blue silk tie around his neck and headed off to find his father to tie it for him. The house on Emerald Hill had never seemed so empty as it did now. Usually Sonic liked how peaceful and quiet the place was in comparison to the hustle and bustle of Station Square but now, it just seemed like the whole building was in a type of quiet mourning. He would have given anything to be anywhere else other than here, maybe even back at Green Hill. Angrily the hedgehog huffed, banishing such an insufferably churlish thought from his mind. As he passed the living room he noted the large number of flowers sitting on the table, gifts of condolence from friends and well wishers. If Sonic never saw another flower in his life again he'd be very happy. Finally he arrived at the guest room Miles usually stayed in when they visited his parents.

The door was slightly ajar, allowing for a touch of light from inside to grant some minor illumination to the dreary hallway, but Sonic could hear no sound coming from within. For a moment the hedgehog wondered that his father might have gone somewhere else to get ready. Timidly the yourh opened the door. Miles was indeed inside, sitting on the bed in similar attire to Sonic, his head in his hands. At the creaking sound of the door the fox looked up. The light from the nearby lamp illuminated the wet patches on the fox's muzzle for the briefest of moments before Miles wiped them away, a sharp intake of breath punctuating the fox's mood.

"Hey kid," whispered the vulpine, trying to pull off a reassuring smile, and only half succeeding, a novel sensation for him. "You gettin' ready?" Sonic approached slowly, holding up the two ends of his tie.

"I need help with this," he explained in a subdued tone that didn't sound at all like him. The elder Prower gave another sniff and then took hold of the silk article, his hands moving clumsily as he tied up the tie, having to restart three times. His task done, Miles rose to his feet and moved over into the bathroom so he could comb the bangs on his head into order and then tie his own tie. When he came back out, Sonic was still standing there, a lost look on his face.

"Why don't you go get yourself something to eat, an apple or something that won't make a mess, 'kay? I'll be ready in a bit." Obediently Sonic left, heading for the kitchen as his father had suggested. He was just on his third apple (Sonic wasn't overly interested in coming up with his own ideas at the moment) when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Miles had both of their jackets in his hand. "Car should be here. You ready?"

In all honestly the hedgehog certainly didn't feel ready, but he wasn't about to tell his father he didn't want to go. Carefully Sonic tossed away the apple core and followed. Outside a car was indeed waiting for them. Since the only method of transportation Miles owned that was present was a plane, and that would hardly be suitable, the CEO had opted to hire a taxi to ferry them to their destination.

"Miles Prower?" the cabby, a dingo with a checkered porkpie hat, asked, yawning due to the early hour of the day.

"Yes," the fox responded as he opened the door and let Sonic hop inside before taking a seat himself. "Emerald Meadows Funeral Home if you would please." The dingo nodded and began moving. They drove in silence, Sonic wallowing in his thoughts as he tried to wrap his head around what had happened over the past few days. He'd been at Samantha's place, spending the summer day, and the next thing he'd known Tails had come home agitated and in a rush. He'd told Sonic that they were leaving, much to Mrs. Axelby's surprise. She'd asked what had been wrong, but all Tails had told her was that he and Sonic needed to go to Emerald Hill and would be gone for a few days. Sonic had been quite surprised when he'd noticed a somewhat more solemn looking Mr. Cervid busily packing their suitcases. Without even giving Sonic an explanation, they'd gone to the airport, run a check on the Tornado and been off.

It wasn't until much later that Sonic found out what had happened. Evelyn Prower had suffered a sudden, intense heart attack and, despite the efforts of the paramedics, had passed away that morning.

Sonic hadn't cried once on the trip over to Emerald Hill. He hadn't even cried as the taxi had taken them from the airport over to the Prower home. Even as the two of them had walked up to the front door, Sonic had held out a faint hope that the door would swing open and the matronly fox would be waiting for them, just as she had all the other times Sonic had visited. But the house was empty, not a soul alive in it. The hedgehog had come to find out his grandfather was currently with some friends who were taking care of him, leaving Miles to take care of the details himself, and leaving Sonic with nothing to do other than putter around the house trying to stay out of the way. And each day he kept hoping that this was all just some stupid joke, that at any moment the Grandmother he'd grown so attached to during his time with Tails would appear in the kitchen making cookies, or be sitting reading one of her books in her favorite armchair. Heck he'd have even settled for walking into the bathroom and finding her scrubbing out the bathtub, even if that usually resulted in him being roped in to help.

But time had passed and no such thing happened, much to the hedgehog's grief.

The taxi slowly pulled into the parking lot of Emerald Meadows, the morning sun shining down on the place and giving it an altogether too cheery look. Sonic was not amused.

Miles handed the cabbie his fare and exited the vehicle, followed closely by his son. They were among the first guests to arrive and very soon a weasel in a black suit came scooting out of the funeral home, his hand extended towards Miles in greeting.

"Mr. Prower," the weasel spoke as his hand was gripped by the fox's, "I'm the funeral director here at Emerald Meadows, Mortimer Klimer."

"Hello Mr. Klimer," the CEO said in a neutral, controlled voice.

"On behalf of Emerald Meadows I just wish to convey our sincerest condolences for the loss of your mother. I'm not speaking in mere platitudes when I say Evelyn was a fixture in the community and that her passing came as a tragic shock to everyone."

"Thank you," responded the fox. That was when the weasel director noticed the small hedgehog standing beside Miles.

"And you would be… 'Sonic,' am I correct?" he asked, a smile on his face that he probably hoped was comforting but came off as just a bit creepy. Not feeling in a particularly personable mood, the normally outgoing hedgehog took a step closer to his father, attempting to disappear into the adult's bushy tails. Klimer seemed to take the hint, carefully ruffling Sonic's head quills before turning his attention back to Miles.

"I do believe we've done your mother's memorial service very well Mr. Prower. Not that we didn't have a great deal to work with."

"Fine, fine, Mr. Klimer, I'm sure it's all very well and good," Miles said, waving the Mobian off. "If it's not too much trouble, I believe my son and I would prefer to head on in."

"Of course, of course sir, do not let me keep you." The weasel stepped aside as Sonic and Miles continued onward. Inside the funeral home was colored in a deep red, with several red flowers sitting everywhere in vases of varying colors. Prints of various pieces of arts were hung on the velvety wall, as though adding a bit of culture and class could hide the facts about this place. The whole place smelled far too sweet to be real. Sonic didn't like it. The pair made their way through the main hall, Miles directing the hedgehog to a large set of double doors with a plastic placard on an easel displaying the words "Prower Funeral" plus an expected starting and ending time. Behind the doors a red headed human stood by a pedestal that held an open book, his arms crossed as he nodded solemnly towards an old fashioned pen sitting in an inkwell. That the pen only looked old fashioned and that the inkwell was completely empty spoke only to the inefficiency of such things. Miles took the pen in hand and wrote out his name in the registry, after which he went down a line to write another. Before pen touched paper, the fox stopped, glancing down at Sonic.

"Would you like to be the one to write your name?" he asked quietly, offering the writing implement to the hedgehog. With a quick nod, Sonic was handed the pen and allowed to get upon a step stool to better see the book. There weren't a lot of names to be read, only about five so far, but that was to be expected for now. With a steady hand, Sonic also put pen to paper just under his father's signature and, in the most controlled and legible script he could make, carefully entered "Olgilvie Prower" into the ledger. The human cast a glance at the name, making sure the young boy had written it correctly, and then nodded them onward into the viewing room.

Two wreaths of flowers sitting on easels sat on either side of a large wooden box the like of which Sonic had never seen before, though he knew what it was. It was a coffin made of a dark brown wood the hedgehog couldn't readily identify. Though most of it was barren of any real ornamentation, there was what appeared to be a carved etching of a vine just under the top. The lower half, or at least what Sonic took to be the lower half, of the lid was closed, a white cloth draped over it as a display of bluebonnets could be seen sitting on it. The whole display was simple and pretty, just the way Evelyn Prower had been in life.

Rows and rows of chairs filled the rest of the room, with a center aisle cleared for people to walk through. Still tired from lack of sleep Sonic took a seat in one, his eyes never leaving the coffin and what he knew was resting inside.

"Stay put Sonic, I'll be right back," Miles said gently before walking off, heading towards the coffin. The hedgehog was grateful for the respite, and even more so that he had not been asked if he would like to come up with his father. He didn't have to let anyone know he didn't want to.

Soon more and more people began to file into the room, filling in the registry and taking seats or milling about talking to each other. A few even did as Miles did and walked up to the coffin to pay their respects. Some had apparently thought it a good idea to bring their children, as evidenced by the rising sounds of discontent. Anger welled in Sonic's heart as he took in this display of disrespect.

'_If the little jerks don't want to be here fine, but they could at least try to make the best of a bad situation and shut their stinkin' traps.'_ Quietly the hedgehog wondered if he'd be able to move fast enough without his shoes on to bop some of these little brats over the head before any of their parents noticed. As if sensing his son's thoughts, the returned Miles gripped Sonic's shoulder and shook his head.

It was at that point the only other person Sonic actually cared to see at this event finally arrived, his grandfather. Bartholomew Prower held himself with a certain amount of dignity at all times, even now, but Sonic could see the older fox was struggling to maintain his composure. If anything the fact that he'd been unable to stay in his own house for the past few days proved the vulpine was not doing too well. He wore an old military uniform that the hedgehog guessed was a holdover from his days in the airforce, complete with several medals pinned to his chest. Quickly Sonic hopped out of his chair and walked up to greet the elder Prower, surreptuously kicking the shin of a rather annoying stout that had been busy lamenting not being able to play ball with his friends.

"Hey Grandpa," Sonic greeted lamely, not really knowing what to say. At the sound of his grandson's voice Bartholomew's attention turned away from the elderly panther he'd arrived with.

"Sonic. So good to see you here," the former pilot returned, his voice quiet and neutral, as though all the emotion had been played out of it. Sonic didn't like it. He was far too used to the normally boisterous proclamations that the old vulpine liked to make. Again the hedgehog's head was patted as the panther, whom Sonic had met before but whose name escaped him at the moment, whispered his own greetings. Sensing there would not be any further conversation, Sonic chose to guide the two Mobians over to where Miles sat. Everyone else in the room took a seat as well as a well dressed squirrel in black entered the room, walking straight to the podium that had at some point been set up in front of the coffin.

"Ladies and Gentleman," the squirrel began as everyone quieted, "We gather here today to pay remembrance to the memory of Mrs. Evelyn Rosemary Prower…"

* * *

Present

* * *

Sonic raced through the forest of the Floating Island, a clear destination in his mind as the trees blurred by. He'd considered following Knuckles through the tunnel the echidna had leapt through, but decided against it. The tunnels crisscrossed the entire interior of the island, and they didn't always end in particularly safe places. Knuckles had once joked that, during his brief partnership with Eggman, he'd actually hoped Sonic and Tails would follow him into the secret passages, just so he could have sent them crashing into Lava Reef's unprotected section. Needless to say neither Tails nor Sonic found that particular joke funny.

Sonic had also considered simply leaving Knuckles to his fate. It certainly didn't take a giant fist to the face to let the hedgehog know when his help was not wanted. Of course there were a number of reasons he couldn't, one of the biggest being that, with Knuckles in charge, the Floating Island, and more importantly the powers of the chaos emeralds, were effectively neutral in all world events. That meant no invincible war machines fueled by the awesome powers of the emeralds. If Knuckles died, how long would it be before some enterprising nation decided to take custody of the Floating Island and its treasures for the "good" of the world? And then how long would it be before Sonic was asked, or even forced, to deal with the problem?

And more importantly, even after all that had happened between them, Sonic still considered the hot headed echidna a friend, and it wasn't in the hedgehog's nature to give up on a friend. Thus it was that Sonic now raced towards the one place he could think of that Knuckles was still likely to go; the Shrine of the Master Emerald. The special zones of Angel Island flew by as Sonic sprinted, blasting through Sandopolis, flying through Aquatic Ruins, and crashing through Casino Night. He soon found himself passing through the all too familiar remains of Hidden Palace, the former site of the shrine. From there it was only a hop, skip, and a jump, quite literally in Sonic's case, to his destination. When he arrived, the hedgehog could only stop and stare, his mouth opening in complete shock.

In the entire world, no wonder was more unique than the Floating Island. An entire landmass that been cut free of the forces of gravity, rising into the air and sailing throughout skies as free as a bird. This was only possible thanks to the power of the mighty Master Emerald, a power supplemented by the seven chaos emeralds. Thus it was little wonder that such powerful artifacts would rest in a place of honor, a sacred site that could be used to channel their powers into the island they kept aloft. The shrine was a platform made of solid marble obtained from a hidden quarry, a pit dug in the center to hold the gigantic gem in a bed of smaller seed crystals. All around the perimeter there were seven thick marble columns at the tops of which the seven servers traditionally rested, at least when they weren't part of some harebrained scheme to either conquer or save the world. The shrine had stood for thousands of years unblemished, surviving first being taken to Hidden Palace and then even the destruction of that hidden home. And that wasn't even counting the number of windstorms, hurricanes, and other natural disasters the elements would have thrown at the ancient edifice at this altitude.

And here it was, looking worse than it had ever been to Sonic's recollection. The white marble that made up the shrine was filthy looking, covered in dirt and grime that could have been an inch thick at its base. One of the chaos emerald's columns had actually collapsed and the jewel itself currently lay on the ground in a bed of mud. Carefully Sonic lifted the gem and scraped off some of the earth, revealing the emerald to be the red one. All the emeralds looked duller than normal, not as if they'd been drained, but more as if no one had cared for them in quite a while. There were even the remnants of a bird's nest sitting atop the pink one. Silently Sonic ascended the Master Emerald's platform, his hedgehog ears prickling a bit at the sound of loose marble falling away at his steps.

And all the while he couldn't help but get a terrible sense of wrongness. This collection of emeralds was Knuckles's most prized treasure, the very purpose of his life; or at least they were supposed to be. And yet here they sat like some forgotten old clutter one would find in an elderly person's attic. Even Sonic, for whom material things were of no real import, would have treated these stones better than they had been.

_'This settles it, something's up here,'_ the hedgehog thought. Suddenly the hedgehog became aware of a scuffling sound, the kind of sound shoes made when they were dragged along the ground. Quickly he turned around and there stood Knuckles, a cross look on his face but otherwise immobile.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" the echidna asked in a quiet voice, letting out a defeated sigh.

"Not after I've seen this," Sonic responded, his hand waving towards the neglected shrine. "What happened here Knux, this place looks like a disaster area?"

"Really? To me it just looks like ruins no one's bothered to come near for a few years. Isn't that the way all civilizations that die are supposed to look after a while?" Sonic couldn't help but be surprised by that statement.

"But these are supposed to have a caretaker; you," he pointed out, just before indicating a rather large crack at the base of the Master's pedestal. "And this wasn't just time taking its toll, I've seen places like that. This was deliberate on someone's part." Knuckles merely shrugged.

"Ooh, you caught me." Then he turned his back to Sonic. "I don't get why you're so concerned. Like I said, if you love those stupid rocks so much, go ahead and take them with you if you want. I'm done wasting my life being whipping boy for pebbles."

"'Whipping boy?' Since when were you a whipping boy?"

"Since the first day I opened my eyes and had to spend every waking moment caring for these things," Knuckles growled, turning back to face Sonic. "Since I haven't been able to leave this horrible island for a single day without them calling me back. Since I've had to give up on every single damn dream I've ever had because someone has to stay here and make sure these 'precious artifacts' aren't captured and used for evil deeds! And I'm sick of it!"

"When did this happen?" Sonic asked, taking a step back down to approach the beleaguered warrior. "I mean, granted, I always thought the same things and if it was me up here I'd go stir crazy, but you always seemed so proud to do it. Annoyingly so." A derisive laugh was heard.

"Yeah. I thought I was so special," the echidna began. "Sure I was stuck up here, away from everything else, but I was the 'Guardian.'" This last word with spoken with contemptuous venom, as though it were the most laughably absurd thing in the universe. "It was my honor, my privilege to protect this island, to serve these emeralds, and all I had to do was not think about what I was missing out on. And I actually thought that was great." An angry look crossed Knuckles's face and for a brief moment Sonic's muscles tensed as he anticipate the disturbed Mobian doing something stupid. But Knuckles didn't move, his shoulders slumping in defeat as his eyes closed. "And then Robotnik came, and you, and… Tails. And I got the opportunity to see just what it was I was missing out on on the surface. More and more I got a taste of the outside world and the next thing I know I had companions, I had friends, and I had enemies. I wasn't the solitary figure I had been and heaven help me but I liked it. That the emeralds got occasionally stolen, that my home was put in danger, that my life became more complicated didn't matter, because finally I felt like I was living life. I even started to think I could count on the two of you, do you know how odd that is?"

"Well, I guess," Sonic admitted, though really he had no idea. Having been a social creature all his life, though at times a maladjusted one, the idea of being an island unto himself was anathema to the hedgehog's very being. "But that still doesn't explain why you're so upset, or why you'd let the shrine fall apart like this. If anything it just raises the question of why you turned on Tails and me so quickly when we came to you for help." Again Knuckles made a snorting laugh.

"How many times have you used the chaos emeralds to save the world?" he asked calmly, quietly. This question seemed a bit out of place, but still the blue hedgehog's ears twitched as he struggled to remember.

"Six or seven times I'd say." Suddenly the sprinter smiled, his arms folding behind his head. "They do come in handy when Eggy's on a rampage." The laughter stopped when Sonic caught a look at the glare Knuckles was giving him.

"Yeah, real handy. Comes with being so powerful, doesn't it?"

"Well they are 'sposed to be the most powerful things on the planet."

"Uh-huh. Infinitely so. Course it stands to reason that if the world went all to hell, the emeralds would get the shaft too. Heck with a big enough explosion, they might find themselves scattered across the universe, never able to re-unite again. So they'd have something of a stake in making sure the world was able to be saved, right?"

"I… guess so," Sonic responded. "At least in as much as rocks can have a stake in anything." The hedgehog knew the spirit of Tikal and the water monster Chaos were bound up inside the Master Emerald, but there was a difference between that and actually considering the individual emeralds to be sentient, to be capable of having their own desires and demands.

"Yeah, they're powerful enough to help save the world they live on. Strong enough to face down a god. And I get to be the one who takes care of them," Knuckles said. Then his eyes closed as he looked down at his feet. "And when we actually needed them to do something for ourselves, when we begged them to save the life of someone who had helped them so much, they did nothing." Suddenly the echidna moved, his fist thrusting downward as he punched the step on which he stood with all his might. A thunderous crack resounded throughout the area and beneath the fist the marble seemed to shatter as it was bent downward by the force of the blow. Sonic took a step backward, unwilling to suffer the same fate as the shrine's step. "They can save the world, but they can't save a single fox to whom they owe as least as much as either of us."

"Well, maybe they couldn't."

"Don't hand me that!" Knuckles snapped back. "No force on Earth has more power than the chaos emeralds, and the Master Emerald is even stronger. Working in concert, there's nothing they're not supposed to be able to do. And that means if they didn't cure him, it was purely because they chose not to. Tails is going to die because some stupid rocks can't muster up the desire to help him. And I can't do anything to make it otherwise…" Again the echidna took on a sad countenance, his brow wrinkling as he let out a huff of breath. "Do you know what that's like? To have access to power like that and be so powerless to help one of the first people you could call friend?"

"Gee no, I have no idea," Sonic said, sarcasm in his voice. Knuckles looked up, fully expecting to see that familiar annoying smirk on the hedgehog's face and ready to angrily glare at him. Instead what he saw was a hurt face staring back at him and a feeling of shame welled up in the echidna's own gut. "Is that why you made us leave before? Because you couldn't help him when you thought you could?" Purple eyes looked away, and Sonic knew he'd struck a chord.

"I couldn't bear it. I couldn't bear looking at him, realizing what I'd done, what I'd failed to do," he admitted. "I spent my life in the belief that there was nothing the chaos emeralds couldn't do, but in that instant…"

"You got angry. And when you get angry, you don't think straight," Sonic pointed out. "So you just lashed out."

"The 'wise' and 'powerful' Guardian of the Floating Island," the red Mobian snorted derisively. "All I could think to do was get the shame as far away from me as possible. I figured you'd be furious I'd failed and have no qualms about leaving."

"Well yeah I was angry. You were screaming at my Dad and acting like it was his fault the ritual didn't work," Sonic said, his voice rising in the end as old memories were dredged up. Time had helped to settle the hedgehog's hot temper and he calmed himself again as Knuckles, tired of standing, took a seat on the step. Footsteps sounded as Sonic made his way down to sit beside his old rival. "If it makes you feel any better, I can understand how you feel. I can't tell you how badly I've just wanted to scream each time some new treatment just didn't cut the mustard. Half the reason I left Mystic Ruins and just kept globetrotting was because I thought if I didn't have to see Tails… see MILES, I could pretend he was all right. I could believe he wasn't sick and dying. And then I came back one day and…" Green eyes closed as a small sliver of a tear ran down the hedgehog's cheek. He didn't like remembering that awful day he'd come home. Those frightened eyes; that terrified face, all the begging and screaming.

Sonic's head shook wildly as he banished that horrible memory back to the dark pit from which it had escaped.

"Was I bummed that the Big Shinies weren't able to help him? Yeah, I was, and surprised really. Like you say, they're the 'most powerful things on the planet.' I figured if anything coulda fixed him up, they'd be it. But I didn't think you'd done anything to prevent it." And then he said something else. "And Tails didn't blame you either." Knuckles looked at the hedgehog, unsure of what he'd just said.

"I thought you said his memories of day to day events were fuzzy?"

"I told him man. I told him everything. That's how sure I was, that's why he was so willing to do whatever we told him. I sat him down before we left, and I sat him down before you started. I told him he was dying, I told him you were gonna try to save his life, I told him everything man. And, even after you kicked us off the island, he still didn't think it was your fault."

"And yet I can't help but notice this is the first time I'm hearing this."

"Well I did mention I was mad about the treatment we got AFTER the fact, didn't I?" Sonic pointed out, chuckling just a bit, though he stopped when he noticed the shamed look on Knuckles's face. "Look, for what it's worth, I get what you were going through. You're still a dummy for it, especially since it seems you've decided the answer to this is let yourself die or whatever you're doing here. But it's not like this was a singular event. We had just as much disappointment with the Time Stones on Little Planet, and I thought for sure they'd be able to do something too."

"They didn't have a guardian who felt betrayed."

"No, and ninety-nine percent of the year they're completely safe from any schlub trying to get his mitts on them," Sonic sighed. "Look, we could sit here all day going over why or why not the emeralds weren't able or 'didn't want' to help, and how worthy they are of having a Guardian and all that. But it ain't the emeralds you're angry at; they're just a convenient target. You're doin' the same thing with them that ya did with me and Tails, and you're still feeling guilty about it so you're tryin' to punish yourself by," the hedgehog took stock of his red colored rival, "let me guess, not sleeping and not eating?" Knuckles jerked away a bit at the accurate observation. It had been at least four weeks since he'd had more than a couple moments sleep and as to food well, the sudden growl of his belly said something in and of itself.

"I appreciate the analysis, but…"

"But nothing. Now that I got you talking I'm not stopping. Besides, if I go back down there without helping you, you have any idea how long Rouge will scream at me? And that lady knows some rather nasty words for 'Screw-Up.'" Knuckles chuckled for a moment at the image of the white bat trailing behind the blue hedgehog, her fist shaking as she called him all manner to impolite things. Then his face took on a serious tone again.

"Is he really as young as he looks now?" There was no need to clarify who the echidna was asking about.

"He gets younger day by day, and smaller year by year," Sonic admitted. "But so far it's been strictly that since he backed through puberty. With no more hormones running around in his body, his regression has slowed." Knuckles nodded. Unsteadily he got to his feet, dusting off his rear to hide his lack of finesse. Then he walked over to the shattered column and hefted the mud encrusted red emerald from where Sonic had laid it on its side.

"You know, I always liked this one best. It was red just like me so I thought it and I had some kind of special connection," the echidna commented as he scraped the rest of the earth off the gem's faceted surface. "Small wonder its pedestal was the one I struck, huh?" A second later a precision strike on top of the column's base created a hole to hold the emerald, wherein it was gently placed. "I guess I'm gonna have to quarry enough marble to make another pedestal for it, aren't I?"

"There's no rush. I mean you got time," Sonic pointed out. "You know, if you want to, you can come back with me to see the gang. They'd both be…"

"No!" the echidna said, and then mastered himself. "I mean no thanks. Maybe I can go see him some other time, but… not now… not this soon."

"Fine," Sonic said, nodding his head as he tried to understand. "It's not like I could make you." Then his voice took on a playful air. "Well, obviously I COULD make you, 'specially now."

"In your dreams hedgehog. I'm still the baddest creature on the planet. Even like this I coulda cleaned your clock earlier," the echidna responded, his own voice puffing with that old pride Sonic had so often had fun with.

"Yeah, yeah. Big talk from a guy who's all swagger, skin, and bones," Sonic called back, jumping over the echidna and off the shrine steps in a display of aerobatic finesse. "About now someone's probably getting worried that I've taken an hour long potty break, so I've got to head back. Unless you want G.U.N. tramping through your island?"

"No thank you," the echidna said. Sonic still didn't move though, and Knuckles gave him a curious look. "What?"

"Not for nothing, but we're good now, right? I'd hate to think this is all just an act to try to get rid of me." For a brief moment Knuckles flushed angry, insulted that the hedgehog would dare question him like that. But the building temper tantrum quickly deflated. He hadn't exactly been acting like himself, so he couldn't really blame Sonic for not trusting him wholesale. Getting angry was what had started all this.

"On my honor as an echidna, on the names of my fathers and the virtues of my mothers, I promise I'm not just giving you a show," he said, holding up one massive fist. Sonic seemed to accept this.

"Okay then Rad Red. But you should probably know Rouge is gonna be doing flybys here, and if she thinks you're not on the mend, she might not decide to be so concerned with you and just 'adopt' the emeralds into her own care." Knuckles chuckled.

"I'll be sure to keep an eye out." Convinced now, Sonic waved a good-bye and took off, leaving Knuckles to take stock of the shrine he would have to rebuild.

* * *

It took only a few minutes for Sonic to make it back to the landing strip, where he found not only those he'd left behind, but a new G.U.N. ship and two more soldiers. The other ship Hunter had been loaded into had apparently left.

"Sonic!" Tails cried happily as he spotted the hedgehog, running up to pounce on his blue buddy. "Where were you? We were getting worried," the cub asked, concern in his eyes that seemed far older than a child his age should have been able to generate.

"Yeah, the Lieutenant over there was worried you might have run into some of Hunter's friends," Amy said as she ran up, explaining the two armed soldiers. "They were getting ready to release a whole mess of Recon Beetles to find out what happened." Sonic cast a look at the soldiers, both of whom seemed somewhat disappointed they'd gotten all dressed up and had nothing to do. Sonic waved an appreciative hand at them, wondering if he'd have to do anything special to make it up to them.

"So any new news on the ol' bots?" the hedgehog asked as they began to walk back to the where the Tornado and G.U.N. ship were parked.

"Dave found some serial numbers that weren't completely corroded on some of the parts," Amy said as Tails "hrrmph"-ed at her. "Sorry, _Tails_ saw the numbers. Are you happy now?" The cub smiled proudly. "Anyway, they're waiting for the computer to track down who they were registered to."

"Fifty bucks says it's you-know-who," said Sonic.

"Eggman hasn't been active for a full year Sonic. Why would he start up again now?"

"The man's an egomaniac, Ames. He can't help himself. If he ever did manage to take over the world I half expect he'd start trying to bully Mars and Venus." Sonic let out a sigh. "Of course ten to one odds who they're gonna ask to go check up on him."

"Aren't you supposed to be retired?"

"Some things I can't just cut loose with," the hedgehog responded just before realizing the voice that had asked this question had belonged to neither Tails nor Amy. Looking to his left, Sonic was quite surprised to find a familiar red figure keeping stride with him as he and his entourage walked back to the planes. He did a double take to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. "Knuckles?" The red echidna smiled even as Amy nonchalantly reached for her hammer, just in case.

"I decided repairs could wait," he admitted as Sonic signaled his girlfriend to relax. "Besides, I didn't want to miss my chance to see my friends again."

"Glad to see you again," Tails said with a smile, offering up his hands to the Guardian. Knuckles gladly pulled the cub up into a rather clumsy hug, perhaps the most affectionate gesture he'd ever displayed. Even as he did so, he couldn't help but notice the suspicious look on the female hedgehog's face. Before he could move to resolve that obvious rift though, Tails decided to continue his greeting. "Sonic said you and he got mad at each other and he wasn't allowed to come visit anymore, but he never told me what it was about. What happened?"

Knuckles took a deep breath as his brain struggled to come up with a plausible story. Never the most creative of creatures, he instead opted for something close enough to the truth to pass.

"It was something stupid, an old grievance," he said as he put the kit down. "He thought he was right, I thought I was. In the end it turned out he was and I was too hardheaded to admit it." Knuckles looked at Sonic again, wondering if he'd done right. When no disapproval came from the blue one's direction, he continued. "Fortunately, Sonic is apparently more forgiving than I am." Tails beamed at this.

"Of course he is, my big bro never holds a grudge." The fox's furry chest puffed out a bit more with pride. Knuckles had to laugh at the sight. He'd forgotten how comical the cub could be.

"Uh, pardon me," another voice said, cutting into the reunion. "I hate to interrupt here, but the findings from the computer just showed up." The G.U.N. technician looked very much like he was, in his mind at least, intruding on sacred ground. After all three of these Mobians were practically legendary in their exploits and Amy wasn't exactly some unknown in her own right. Still this was fairly important.

"Okay, so let's have it tech-head," Sonic said.

"Tracing the serial numbers present revealed they were each part of a separate bulk shipment purchased by several different companies. Each company has in turn been confirmed to have been a dummy corporation set up by a single entity; MeteoTech." As he heard this, Sonic was not surprised. MeteoTech was the legitimate side to Dr. Robotnik, aka "The Eggman's" criminal empire, and the primary source of funding and supplies for the doctor's exploits. As such the corporation employed a legion lawyers whose sole duty was to keep the company operating, even while Eggman remained a rather public super-villain. Despite that, if MeteoTech was involved, it was a sure thing the Doctor would be nearby. And if that was the case, Sonic's next stop for answers was very clear. He had to go to Eggtopia.

To Be Continued…

Author's Note 2: Anyone out there who is currently crying may now go have a cookie on me,


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note: Hello all you lucky people you. I'm back! Now as some of you may have noticed, I've recently taken on the writing responsibilities for another story, "Mutant Body, Mobian Heart" by Mysterious Traveller while he deals with cleaning up his past chapters. He basically feeds me the chapter summaries and I just put them to words. It's a good story, you should read it when you get the time. ::Suddenly gets trampled by a mob of people rushing away.:: I meant after reading this chapter of MY story you nuts. AH! ::Gets trampled again as same group of fans return::

Now that that's out of the way, I will say this is not going to effect the updates for Reversion, so you don't have to worry about this story getting neglected again. In any event, this is the chapter many of you have been waiting for since I started this little project. Yes, we're drawing to the stories climax. But I've had such a great time writing this particular piece that I've decided to make a sequel to Reversion once this wraps up in a few chapters. Well that's all from me, enjoy.

* * *

Present

* * *

Five hours later found Sonic standing on the deck of one of G.U.N.'s naval aircraft carriers, a floating fortress on the water known as the Fremen. Once Eggman's involvement had been determined, Sonic had been contacted on the Tornado's communications equipment by no less than Commander Sheridan, the very head of G.U.N. Command himself. Though not one to be impressed by rank and titles, it did give the hedgehog's ego a nice boost to know that the Guardian Units of the Nations still considered him their go to hero for potential world disasters.

Apparently the news that Eggman robots had attacked the Floating Island had worried the President and other world leaders a great deal. If the evil doctor was, despite the precautions being taken by the nations of the world, still operating outside of Eggtopia with impunity, no one was safe. There were murmurs in the U.N., talks about a pre-emptive strike against Robotnik's stronghold, despite the fact that he'd had nearly two years now to strengthen his defenses, defenses that had proven more than capable of repelling G.U.N.'s forces when they'd tried to invade before.

Sheridan wanted Sonic to make sure the situation had not devolved to that point yet. Aside from some minor smuggling incidents, there had not been a peep out of Eggman in all this time; he hadn't even attempted to evade the surveillance satellites that had been keeping an eye on him. And so orders were being processed and connections were being made to get Sonic to Eggtopia.

Hence Sonic's presence now at sea.

_'Eggtopia,'_ the hedgehog thought as he gazed out over the edge of the boat at the distant island and its much smaller companion islands. _'Chaos, has it really only been a year and a half?'_ Even from this distance Sonic could make out the gleaming city that dominated the islands, linking them together into a unified location. A year and a half ago, Dr. Robotnik had relocated to this place, much to G.U.N.'s distress. The locals were known to be very low tech, a few fishing villages with huts of wood and grass and armaments of stone. They would have been no match for Eggman on their best day. G.U.N. had gone in on a mission of liberation and met heavy resistance that had kept them from even landing a sizeable party on the beaches. They'd called for Sonic then too and, visions of terrified islanders being used to feed his nefarious rival's mechanical empire, the hedgehog had agreed to go in.

What he'd found had been a welcoming paradise.

Robotnik himself had appeared to meet Sonic in his trademark Egg-O-Matic, declaring he'd been expecting and even hoping for the hedgehog's arrival. The human had explained that he had not come to these unnamed islands, now named Eggtopia, on a mission of conquest, but on one of peaceful retirement. Sonic had been taken into the island's interior where he'd gotten to meet those he had come to save. Eggman had not harmed a single hair on their heads; in fact he was working to help them improve their lives, offering up his matchless technology in exchange for residence upon their homeland. Indeed the people saw him as something of a benefactor and, though they were not so cut off as to not know who he was, they reported he had not done anything untoward. The only military grade machines present were the ones currently involved in repelling G.U.N.'s incursion. Other robots, ones the doctor went out of his way to prove were powered by conventional methods rather than shanghaied animals, were busy gathering fish, building new structures, and performing basic maintenance. In other words, doing nothing wrong.

"I'm getting old, Sonic, and am not as spry as I once was. I can't build with the same sort of feverish enthusiasm I once had, and my aim is becoming sloppier and sloppier. And since I'm certainly not willing to spend my golden years in a prison, I felt a quiet retirement would be a much more acceptable compromise for everyone concerned." That had been the speech Robotnik had used to explain his recent actions. Indeed all that had been missing had been a cracked golden watch presented for a lifetime of evil deeds.

In his heart Sonic had known there was something wrong about just letting the villainous scientist quit the battlefield of his own accord. The man was a megalomaniac with no more regard for other people than a normal person would have for a microbe scrubbed from their skin. Sonic would certainly have been justified in telling the human to stuff his cushy little retirement scheme and dragging him back to the beach to be captured. But then what?

Robotnik certainly was no stranger to escaping federal custody. Even if what he said about wanting to retire was true, how long would it have been before the doctor simply busted himself out? And then they'd have had to start this whole dance all over again, with the criminal scientist setting up a new base of operations elsewhere and someone, namely Sonic, having to go in and ferret him out yet again. But if all the Eggman wanted to do was remain here, there was no denying just letting him would have been a great load off of Sonic's mind.

And then there had been the islanders to consider. Sonic would have had no compunctions about kicking his ovoid nemesis off his self-made throne, retirement or no, had he been abusing the natives. But they'd accepted him, actually voicing concern that the doctor was going to be taken away and openly decrying such an act. There hadn't seemed to be anything compelling the islanders' opinions other than genuine concern. Faced with such feelings, Sonic had had no choice but to return to his extraction point empty handed. He'd told G.U.N. everything he'd learned and given his recommendation, stating that uprooting Dr. Robotnik was simply more trouble than it was worth, especially if he wasn't being antagonistic.

Needless to say, there'd been a fantastic uproar at that idea.

Governments from all over the world, Station Square included, had yelled and screamed about such a course of action. There had been theories, accusations and all sorts of speculation about what was going on in Eggtopia. Military units were put on high alert for weeks, waiting for the next Eggman plan to unfold and wreak havoc on the world. There had even been stories accusing Sonic of having finally been bought off by the nefarious scientist. But in the end all of it had been blustering, because no one, not even Empire City, wanted to be the first to set a hostile foot on that island. There had been talk of simply cutting loses and letting fly with a tactical nuclear strike, but thankfully such talk had been ignored. In the end, it had been decided that Eggtopia would be placed under international quarantine, enforced by a blockade of ships made up of an international fleet. Space based weaponry would be used to keep anything from launching from the island, and all travel there would be put under restriction.

Officially, Eggtopia was completely off limits. No one was supposed to go there, and even violating its waters was considered grounds for imprisonment in most countries. So of course there was a thriving black market trade going on with Eggman's little republic. The Doctor was a premiere scientist, a man at the head of any field he chose, so it stood to reason that a great deal of money could be made by acquiring his technology, or having him deal with your problems. That such actions were high treason didn't seem to overly bother some, at least not as long as Eggman was no longer a world class threat.

_'Especially if he isn't a world class threat apparently,'_ Sonic thought as he watched a next generation G.U.N. beetle-bot as it zoomed around the ship's deck, expert eye having no trouble identifying how the Guardian Units had managed to advance their robots so quickly.

But now, with the attack on the Floating Island, Sonic was left to wonder if he had been wrong in endorsing the Doctor's retirement. Though ribbing on Knuckles's supposed gullibility was always good for a laugh, there was no denying Eggman was a devious person quite capable of playing mind games with anyone. Sonic could not deny the fact that he only evaded deception by the ovoid human because he'd taken everything Eggman said to be a lie unless proven otherwise. But if Robotnik had finally succeeded in tricking his azure nemesis, succeeded in buying himself a full year and change to build up a new wave of terror…

"Sonic!" came a cry as the blue hedgehog suddenly found himself with company of the two-tailed and furry kind. "Captain Archer says the ship is getting close to Eggtopia's water boundaries. You're supposed to come to the pilot's house so they can figure out what to do from there."

"Thanks kid," Sonic said, rubbing Tails's head. Then he halted. Something was wrong with Tails, the hedgehog could tell. And it took only noticing the wistful glance the fox was casting at the approaching islands to figure out what was on the cub's mind.

"Sonic, I wanna go with you," he finally said. Sonic huffed. They'd already had this conversation, but darned if Tails wasn't going to reopen it.

"I told you, kid, you're staying here with Amy," he restated. "It could get really messy over there, and I'm not comfortable with you being at ground zero if it gets dangerous. Heck if there had been time I'da dropped you an' her off at Amy's apartment and gone on alone."

"But that's why you need me," the fox pleaded. "If Eggman really is on the move again, this could all be a trap. You need me there to help you fight his machines and stuff, just like in the old days." Sonic cringed at the concern in his ward's voice, and he couldn't help but feel six years younger again. Dollars to donuts Tails couldn't actually remember that far back and what had actually happened, but Sonic would have been hard-pressed not to tell his furry sidekick about their past adventures. That some enterprising electronics company had produced a series of games based off of their adventures (each one just a little more liberal with the events than the last) that Tails loved playing probably also helped to embolden his desire to go.

A part of Sonic wanted Tails to come with him, just like old times.

The hedgehog shook his head violently, banishing that part of his mind away. An eight-year old had no business on a potential battlefield, particularly a sick one. Even if Tails could still match IQs with the Doctor, now was not the time to let sentiment get in the way of his responsibility.

"Sorry kid, the answer's still no," Sonic said as Tails "humph"-ed angrily, his ears folding against his head. Still his present mood was not enough to keep him from tagging along with Sonic to meet Captain Archer. The anthropomorphic duck stood in the ship's control room, a pair of binoculars in his hands as he stared out at Sonic's ultimate destination.

"I don't mind telling you how uneasy I am about this," the Mobian G.U.N. officer said. "There hasn't been a peep from this island in over a year and now…"

"Well it's not exactly like we know there's been a violation of the quarantine," Sonic pointed out, even as he watched another upgraded Beetle fly past the window. "All we know is that someone used robots that used to belong to Eggman, and I'm sure there's any number of ways for THAT to happen." Archer cast Sonic an arched eyebrow. No doubt the avian felt it in bad taste for Sonic to question G.U.N.'s policies when he was the one who had opened the door for them.

"Be that as it may, we have been monitoring the Doctor with spy satellites."

"And?"

"And nothing. He's done nothing that would be out of the ordinary for a simple retiree. We have some great photos of him enjoying himself at a local fair, but nothing that would indicate that he's getting ready to launch a campaign of terror against the world."

"Like I said, we don't know he's doing anything yet. That's why I'm heading there," Sonic pointed out, adding the world "alone" for his furry sidekick's benefit. "But that does bring me to my next question. How am I getting there?"

"I'll not bring a military vessel close enough to a potentially hostile land to be perceived as a threat. If this does go all pear-shaped, I will not have it be said I or my crew were the cause of hostilities," Archer explained. "I intend to have a helicopter ferry you and your cargo to the beach. I imagine Robotnik will have some way to take you further into the island's interior from there."

"Least you can do," Sonic replied snidely, though he understood the Captain's caution. Devious and Robotnik were practically synonyms, and Chaos knew Sonic would be wary of letting the scientist get to be alone with G.U.N.'s toys, retired or not. Recognizing a dismissal when they heard one, Tails and Sonic left for the helipad.

A fairly big wooden box was being loaded onto a small helicopter by two burly seamen, warning markings all over its sides. Amy soon appeared as well. After sampling the ship's cuisine at lunch, the pink hedgehog had apparently gone off in search of the ship's cook to discuss the obvious misconception the man had about the term "edible." Sonic hoped the Galley Master had not been too put off by impromptu visit. Though he had been similarly unimpressed with the food, he was also not about to scoff at a meal created on limited means. It wasn't as though the ship could park itself in front of the nearest grocery store for fresh ingredients.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked her blue beau. Amy too had wanted to accompany Sonic to Eggtopia proper, not trusting Eggman anymore than anyone else did, but Sonic had denied the request. While fairly certain Amy could handle herself against anything other than a seriously determined attack, if she went Tails would be left alone, and Sonic had vowed the cub would never be alone again. And, if worse came to worse and Sonic found himself stranded on Eggtopia for the next few weeks cleaning up his own error in judgment, it was comforting to know the two people he cared most about would be out of the danger zone.

'_Wow, when did that happen?'_ Sonic mused. '_When did I start to consider Amy to be so important?'_ Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Sonic gave Amy a hug and ruffled Tails's head-fur, the only way he had of comforting the both of them as he exited their lives for now. Then he climbed into the helicopter as the two closest people he had to family ran clear of the whirling blades. The signal was given and the whirly-bird began to rise into the air quickly, the ship below becoming smaller as it did so. Sonic cast a look out the open door, and noted his foxy friend had used his own method of propeller flight to follow the military craft for a bit, expert muscles automatically compensating for the air turbulence created by the machine. For a moment the hedgehog feared Tails intended to be disobedient and simply follow along to Eggtopia himself, but the fox had stopped about fifty or so feet in the air, his eyes watching his "big brother" being carried away. Sonic could still make out the look of concern on the vulpine's face, and it worried him.

Though now a cub, Miles Prower had had the finely honed senses of an ace fighter pilot and the instincts of a very successful business man. Even taken down to the age of eight, it took a lot more to rattle him than any normal boy his age. For a brief moment Sonic considered scrubbing the mission until G.U.N. had a chance to collect more information on what was going on in Eggtopia, just in case. Hedgehog pride surged forward to countermand this idea. He had never shied away from Dr. Robotnik before, and he wasn't about to this time either.

* * *

Past (12.25 years ago)

* * *

Sonic was bored. Dreadfully bored.

As he hung upside down on the couch watching television, all he could think about was how bored he was. And the oh-so fun fact that this was only Saturday and he had a whole other day of the same nothing to do tomorrow.

_'Dumb Mighty would have to go and get himself grounded this weekend,'_ the hedgehog fumed. This was actually something of a lie as it had been RAY, unable to stand up to adult interrogation, who had gotten Mighty grounded. And himself as well. It was no wonder the armadillo wanted to duct-tape the squirrel's mouth shut sometimes.

Briefly Sonic considered swallowing his pride and going downstairs to Carl's apartment, but quickly dispelled that thought. Hedgehog and monkey had had a fight earlier that week and both were still pretty steamed at each other. That the reason for the fight had been stupid and Sonic really didn't care what it had been about anymore took second place to the fact that Sonic would be darned if he were the first to admit defeat and apologize.

And that attitude of course left him with no friends to pal around with.

As the show he was watching ended, some old series featuring a barbarian hero with a magic sword fighting an evil sorcerer, Sonic thought about plugging in his game console and seeing about some interactive mindless mayhem. Again this thought was discarded. He'd beaten all his videogame's single player modes and besides, they were more fun with others around to scream, yell advice, or laugh at the ludicrous ways the character onscreen might die. But no, at best the console would only alleviate his boredom for a few minutes.

Sonic hated days like this, when there was just nothing to do. He didn't mind relaxing and doing nothing, but forced idleness was just annoying. Mr. Cervid had suggested becoming involved in an after school sport, an idea Miles had seconded, even as his son had declined. It wasn't as though Sonic disliked sports. He loved them just as he loved any opportunity to show off. But really, how long would such an activity remain fun. In football, who could touch him once he got the ball? And soccer was the same problem. In track and field he'd be relegated almost exclusively to the former if only because of the coach's desire to win, and the last thing Sonic wanted was for running to lose its attraction. Wrestling was out unless Sonic consented to cut his quills down, an absolute deal breaker in the somewhat vain youth's book. And of course, the less said about swimming, the better (though Sonic had had to admit he didn't mind watching the girls in the water). Thus the current predicament.

Getting just a little fed up, Sonic almost considered marching into his father's office and demanding a solution to his problem, but only got as far as turning around on the couch. Miles was no fool and it would probably take him only a few questions to deduce Sonic had not yet done his homework assignments for the weekend, tasks the hedgehog was determined to put off for a long as Mobianly possible.

And besides, the fox had been so moody and depressed for the last few months, it almost wasn't worth it to bait him these days. From what Sonic could gather, the company called MeteoTech was not letting up on its demands that Miles do what they wanted. Personally Sonic didn't understand why his Dad didn't just beat the snot out of this Dr. Robotnik or whoever it was.

Then there was the fact that Sonic's grandfather was apparently not doing so well. The elder fox was sliding a little too far down a slippery slope after his wife's death, and not taking as good care of himself as he needed to. The hedgehog had even caught Miles arguing with the old vulpine over the phone when he'd come home from school, Not the normal arguing, but the actual yelling and yipping that sometimes slipped into foxes' speech patterns, a throwback to their wilder days.

Finally deciding to do something, Sonic got up and headed into the kitchen for a snack, grabbing hold of the most complicated thing he was allowed to make on his own; popcorn. Very soon the whole kitchen smelled of hot butter, oil, and salt, and Sonic pulled the hot bag from machine, tearing its top open and sneezing as the hot steam hit him in the face. Snack in hand, Sonic walked back over to the couch.

It was as he passed the hallway that lead to the apartment's study that a sudden anguished growl came to the hedgehog's ears. Emerald eyes cast a worried glance down the corridor, wondering which of the myriad of things going on was currently tormenting their adoptive father. Setting down his bag of popcorn, Sonic began to quietly tip-toe towards the study's door. Though he was technically not allowed past the room's threshold, the unofficial addendum to that policy was "without Miles being in the room as well." Foxy father encouraged hedgehog curiosity and was readily willing to make available his more interesting resources, merely wishing to be present lest his son come across something he shouldn't.

That the door was closed however, tended to mean that Miles wished to be left alone.

Taking the leisure of his next few Saturdays in hand, Sonic turned the knob of the door and gently pushed it open. He did not make to conceal himself, he wasn't trying to eavesdrop after all, but there was no need to sound any alarms if they could be avoided. Inside Miles Prower leaned over his desk, arms propping up head as face rested in hands. The treasured aviator's goggles, so much a part of the CEO's normal attire, hung from the back of the chair, making it all the easier for furry fingers to massage throbbing temples.

At the slight sound of a squeak from an oil starved hinge, Sonic sound found himself looking at azure eyes tinged in a bit of red from irritation. There was a frown on his father's muzzle, but that quickly faded as he took note of the hedgehog. It was not at all uncommon for Miles to become so distracted while working that he lost track of small details such as what day of the week it was. Likely as not he'd thought Sonic was in school today, forgetting he'd seen his son on the couch not but three hours ago.

"What's up, kiddo?" Miles asked, his voice not quite as warm as usual due to some of the stress he was under.

"Well, I heard you growl and I wanted to make sure you were all right," Sonic answered truthfully. Not forbidden to do otherwise, the hedgehog strolled into the room. From his position he could see the computer on his father's desk was on, the absence of the familiar flying toaster screen saver indicating it had been in use up until recently. The boy recognized what looked like blueprints sitting on the screen, though at his current level they were far too complex for him to understand. Miles was smiling as Sonic approached.

"Sorry about that. I guess I got a little carried away here." By this point Sonic was close enough that he could see up onto the desk, and that was when his eyes caught sight of a certain pamphlet under Miles's left arm.

"Pine City Nursing Home," he read and then looked questioningly at his father. He knew what a nursing home was, or at least had an idea, and there was little effort needed to guess what this was about. Miles looked down at the pamphlet and began to shove it under a pile of papers, his ears folded down in annoyance at his own sloppiness. Then his ears perked up. It wasn't really in his nature to hide things from people he was close to, and Sonic was too smart to be placated with some hastily made lie.\

"Yes, I hear they're a fine one, very good staff; hard-working, dependable, and as minimally invasive as possible," the fox explained. Sometimes Sonic wished his guardian wasn't quite so intelligent, then maybe he wouldn't choose words that were difficult to understand. He could guess what "minimally invasive" meant however, particularly when applied to his grandfather.

"He won't like it, not at all," Sonic pointed out, his face still displaying disapproval.

"Don't look at me like that," Miles responded, causing his son to look away. "This is a hard enough decision to make without you putting your two cents in before I've even decided to move forward."

"Sorry," the hedgehog intoned, and he certainly looked very contrite. The fox exhaled, half in frustration, half in exhaustion.

"I didn't mean to snap at you, this is just… not something I'm really that happy with contemplating. But Dad isn't really giving me many other options. He refuses to leave Emerald Hill, and I can't simply relocate there to watch after him. And I can't just let him stay there in that big house all by himself, not the way he's going."

"But isn't there some other thing you can do? I could go and help him." Miles had to smile at that. Sonic was a very helpful Mobian by nature, especially if it meant he could have some fun being helpful.

"Sorry Son, but I don't think a ten year old is exactly the best caretaker for an old man. But that is an idea. Dad would hate a nursing home, but I have to wonder how he'd feel about a live-in nurse or something like that?" Miles turned back towards his desk, taking hold of a voice recorder. "Memo to self; check into the possibility of a medical assistant for Dad." Sonic had to smile at that, proud he'd given his father a tangible idea. It was at that point that Miles wiped his brow. "I don't know about you, Blue, but I'm pretty tired of staring at the same four walls. Whaddaya say we go out and catch a movie or something?"

"Sounds cool to me. Something scary, with a lot of body parts being pulled off, and blood and gore and ACK ACK ACK ACK!" As he spoke, Sonic grabbed his own throat, pantomiming a murder victim rather hamily as he spun about on his heel and fell to the ground, twitching a bit where he lay with his tongue lolled out.

"Are you done?" Miles asked in sarcastic tone as he gazed down at the very odd hedgehog. Sonic's head lifted from floor at the question.

"Yeah, I'm done."

* * *

Nighttime had fallen over the city of Station Square, though the only noticeable difference for a city this size was the fact that now the illumination came from the street lamps and other electrical sources rather than the sun. Even Sonic's own bedroom, located at the top of the Sky Top tower, wasn't tall enough to avoid the encroaching night light. Not that the hedgehog really minded. Green Hill may not have been a completely rural setting, but it had still tended to shut down when the sun left the sky, blanketing the area in perpetual darkness and the sounds of crickets. Even two years after having arrived, Sonic had to admit he liked the idea of a place that buzzed with activity twenty-four seven, and honestly couldn't wait until he was old enough to get to be a part of it. Samantha had told him about some of the nightclubs that existed in the city, and quite frankly they very much intrigued the hedgehog. He very much wanted to visit one and see it for himself. Yes the nightlife was the life for Sonic, there was no doubt.

Even if it did have a tendency to invade his room when he was trying to get some shut eye.

Groggily Sonic pulled the covers off his body and walked over to the window, grabbed hold of the curtains and yanked them shut, blocking out the lights from the ground below. Turning back to head for bed, he noted the lights seeping in from under the bedroom door. That meant the hall lights were on. Why was a question he wasn't entirely sure of. For the second time in the same day Sonic quietly opened a door, poking his head out to see what was going on. Not only was the hall light on, odd in and of itself, but the living room light as well. Curious now, Sonic made his way into the living room, noticing that the light in the other hall was also on, as was the one in the study. Miles had gone to bed about an hour after his son, but apparently had not quite stayed in bed. That was worrisome. Even at the movies, Miles had retained the tenseness and frustrated appearance he'd had earlier that day. It had been all Sonic could do to keep the fox from rushing back into his study as soon as they'd returned home.

Not that that had apparently helped.

Shaking his head, Sonic turned to head back to bed, fully aware that he'd been dealing with a groggy and irritable parent when he next awoke. He was just about to close the door, when the soft sound of glass breaking suddenly caused his ears to perk up. Sonic had exceptional hearing, no doubt a necessary ability given how much he needed to be aware of his surroundings when he ran. Indeed, all of his senses were better than the average hedgehog, sometimes better than the average Mobian, so as to allow him to take into observations from the world around him quickly and efficiently. He didn't need such talents, however, to detect the next sound that came to his ears.

"Ack!" came the cry, in a voice Sonic knew all too well. Scared no, he raced towards the door of the study, opening. Just as he did so, the hedgehog saw Miles lying prone on the ground, his arms bent around his body as though he'd simply fallen down. He could also see what seemed to be a greenish mist that was quickly fading from view. All too quickly it was completely gone, so fast in fact that Sonic questioned whether or not it had even really existed.

Shaking his head, Sonic refocused his attention on the prone fox, jump running over to him.

"Dad. Dad!" he yelled shaking Miles's body. All this did was cause the vulpine to groan. He didn't even open his eyes. Sonic was feeling very scared now. Miles needed help, help that was beyond Sonic's ability to give. But maybe not get.

Casting a quick look at the prone adult, the hedgehog made his decision, streaking out of the room. The front door nearly flew from its hinges as Sonic crashed into it, knocking it open as he tore down the hall. Unwilling to wait on the elevator, the hedgehog decided to take the stairs, pausing only long enough to stare down the well. His coach at school had often said that Sonic had more talent for gymnastics than any Mobian he'd ever seen. Taking a breath, the hedgehog cub leapt up onto the guardrail and jumped, aiming for the next lower level of stairs. Grabbing hold of that stairway, Sonic rebounded off of it and did a back-flip to even more stairs. Three more times did he make his dangerous shortcut before pulling himself back up over the guardrail and quickly opening the door to that floor of apartments. Sonic's feet were a blue blur as he once more sped through the halls, wincing in pain as he felt the building friction in his naked feet.

"1912, 1914, 1916, 1918!" the hedgehog cried, finding the apartment he was looking for. Like rapid machine-gun fire, small fists began to bang on the door as he yelled. "Mrs. Axelby, Sam! Wake up! Wake up! I need your help please!" The desperate cries and constant knocking were soon truncated by the sound of a latch being unlocked. Soon the door opened to reveal a rather disoriented Mrs. Axelby dressed in a pink night-robe with fuzzy trim, her hair done up in rollers. The groggy look on her face said that she had just been rather rudely woken up.

"What's going on out here? Sonic? Dear boy it's past midnight, what in Heaven's name are you making so much racket for?" she asked, her voice just a little sharper than she would have liked thanks to her current state.

"Mrs. Axelby, it's Dad, I think he's hurt!" Sonic continued to wail. "I-I heard him fall down and then when I tried to wake him up, he-he wouldn't…"

"Grandma? Sonic?" the tired voice of Samantha asked as the girl appeared from her own room. "What-what's going on?" Mrs. Axelby turned back towards her granddaughter.

"Sonic says something is wrong with Mr. Prower, dear," the older woman explained, grabbing hold of her coat by the door. "I'm going to go up to see what's happening. Be a love and call an ambulance if you would, just in case." Waiting only long enough for the girl to acknowledge the command, the former actress closed her coat and followed Sonic out the door.

* * *

Present

* * *

"Well fooey to you too," Sonic said from where he stood on the beach, casting a churlish look at the retreating helicopter in the sky. Next to him was the large crate the helicopter had also been carrying, much too heavy for him to move on his own. Which meant all he could do now was wait. And Sonic hated waiting.

In retrospect, the island's titular king probably knew this; hence why it took so long before the tell-tale sounds of engines came to the hedgehog's ears. Sonic smiled a bit. If Eggman was willing to play games and tricks on him, then the scientist was in a good mood. That being the case, he either had nothing to do with the trouble that had happened on the Floating Island, or he was so confident he was untouchable here he was willing to bait his long-time enemy. And when Dr. Eggman got over-confident, he got sloppy.

Very soon the familiar shape of the Egg-O-Matic hovercraft appeared coming down the stone path that led from the beach to the island's interior, followed closely by what appeared to be a truck with a few bots riding on it. In the Egg-O-Matic's seat sat a familiar human, his face grinning as he approached Sonic.

Dr. Robotnik had been middle-aged when Sonic had first met him. In fact a part of the hedgehog wondered if the whole "take over the world" thing wasn't just some form of mid-life crisis for the doctor. That being said, it wasn't really a big surprise that the intervening years had seen him age into an old man. His moustache, once flame red, was now markedly duller in color, with several flecks of gray visible amongst its whiskers. Even at rest his face seemed wrinkled, his smooth, bald head furrowed deeply. Absently Sonic tried to remember just how old his former nemesis was, ceasing his calculations as the craft stopped a few feet away from him.

The robots got off their truck, each one armed with a laser rifle as they took positions between their creator and Sonic, not that they would be much of a deterrent to attack. His defenses in place, the retired villain decided to land his signature craft, activating both landing gear and ramp as it came lower. As Dr. Robotnik got up and exited, Sonic felt a guilty twang as he watched the human take hold of a cane and walk towards him with a noticeable limp. At the end of one of their last fights, Robotnik had been too close to a rather volatile machine the hedgehog had needed to destroy. The resulting explosion had blown the doctor hard into a wall, breaking his hip. Without a second thought, Sonic banished the guilt away. Not even Eggman, with the exception of a token revenge ploy and a rather clichéd speech about eyes for eyes, blamed him for the incident. These were merely the risks one took when one chose to be a supervillain.

As Robotnik approached, the robots he'd brought with him moved into a semicircle formation around the hedgehog and his box, each one aiming a gun directly at him. Sonic was unconcerned. Given the relationship the hero and villain had, this almost qualified as a warm and friendly welcome.

"Sonic," Eggman said in a pleased voice as he stood about two yards away from his visitor, the minimum distance he could stand and still reasonably expect a laser bolt to force the high-speed hedgehog to break off a direct charge for him. "I must say I am quite surprised to see you here. I'd thought after your last visit we'd finally gone our separate ways. Or have you perhaps decided to relocate to my little island paradise? I'm sure I could find you a lovely little hut with absolutely no view of the ocean if you'd like."

"You're making some rather bad jokes, Eggy, considering how easy I could shred these bots of yours if I wanted to," Sonic retorted back, falling into the familiar dance he and the doctor had spent what seemed like a lifetime performing. Robotnik hooted his peculiar laugh.

"These rust-buckets? Oh no dear boy, I'd be certifiably senile if I thought they could actually take you." A sudden malicious gleam appeared in Robotnik's sunglasses. "No, if I need protection from you Sonic, I'll just rely on Stealth Mecha Sonic to do the job." A sudden feeling of unease washed over the hedgehog's body as he became aware of a presence directly behind him. Turning his head, he just made out the glowering features of his mechanical double. In an instant Sonic was several feet to the left of his previous position, ready for an attack even as the robots retrained their guns on him. Mecha had not moved however, and, at the sight of Sonic's reaction, Robotnik had broken down into an uncontrollable laugh.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha," Eggman cried as Sonic cast an annoyed look at him. "You should have seen your face when Mecha snuck up behind you like that. I do not believe I have ever seen your eyes so big." Mecha too seemed to be shaking with laughter, an effect that was somewhat unnerving as the inspiration for his design watched the mechanical hedgehog's normally ironclad facial features go from a perpetual glower into something more resembling pleasure.

"Not funny old man," Sonic barked back at his long time nemesis.

"Oh, did the little hedgehog get his feelings hurt? Come now Sonic, you know you aren't the only one who gets to make threats in this relationship. That simply isn't how I roll." Quietly Eggman pulled a hanky out of his back pocket, wiping his sweating brow before looking at the general direction of the sun and exhaling. "I don't suppose you'd be averse to moving this meeting to someplace more… climate controlled would you. At my age I'm afraid I'm not overly comfortable in the hot sun for very long." Sonic cast a look at Stealth Mecha and then at the ship he'd come from, as if trying to calculate his chances of getting off Eggtopia if this did indeed turn out to be a trick.

"Fine, anything to keep from seeing you flop sweat," he said after a moment's deliberation. Then he glanced at the crate. "Uh, one thing though."

"Yes, yes of course, your 'luggage.' Mecha…" Heeding the unspoken command the robotic hedgehog walked over to the crate that was easily twice his size and, with one arm, hefted it onto his shoulder. Without so much as breaking stride, he carried the crate over to the truck and set it on the bed. Sonic just glanced at Robotnik.

"You just love doing that don't you?"

"In all honesty I think he loves it too," the doctor said as he led the way inward.

* * *

"And then you made the craziest face, sort of a-" Robotnik tilted his head back, twisted his features up, and stuck out his tongue causing Sonic to laugh.

"Well what did you expect? You were sucking the chaos energy right out of me. You would not believe how weird that felt at the time," the hedgehog responded. "Kinda made me feel like a used up juice box."

"But it wasn't like you didn't come out ahead on the deal," the scientist countered. "Had I known forcibly reversing your super form's transformation would turn you into a were-hog, I might have re-thought the whole idea. Or at least tossed you a chew-toy when I shot you back to Earth."

"Oh you're just a barrel of yucks today, aren't you," Sonic retorted as he took a sip of his soda. The drink had come from a sealed can and he'd had Robotnik himself take a sip first before drinking himself, so the hedgehog felt somewhat safe. Or at least he had until Eggman had pointed out that if he'd wanted to poison Sonic, he would have done so using the ice cubes to protect himself. Still, nothing had happened to him yet. "I still can't believe it took you that long to think to do something like that."

"Well to be fair before the Chaos incident you didn't exactly use it all that often," the human defended himself. "I admit I do feel just a tiny bit hurt it took the appearance of a physical god to make you pull out the big guns. But once I realized the whole super-mode thing wasn't unique to yourself, I realized it might theoretically be vulnerable to outside alteration."

"Yeah, Tails thought as much when he heard the full story later," Sonic said absently, only to shut up when he noticed the look the Doctor was giving him.

"Speaking of your little sidekick, it seems he's still suffering under a steady deterioration of his health, isn't he?"

"I'm not that keen about you spying on us, Doc, especially after seeing the new improved Mecha Sonic you have."

"Oh don't be so uptight hedgehog, I'm merely making a logical deduction. As Tails, he is your world famous, much beloved sidekick, and as Miles, he is perhaps the only technological genius in the world capable of come close to myself. As there has been no tearful mourning for the loss of the former and no triumphant rejoicing for the return of the latter, I can only assume that there has been no real change to speak of." As he spoke, Eggman's voice took on a definitely disappointed tone. "Such a pity." The villainous scientist had been one of the very few people to have put two and two together about Miles and Tails without being told anything. Most of the world was under the impression that Tails was exactly what he claimed to be, Sonic's brother, simply assuming him to be the end result of some liaison Miles had had at some point.

"I'm surprised you're not happy about that, given all the trouble we've given you over the years," Sonic pointed out.

"Give me more credit than that, Sonic," Robotnik countered. "Such an ignominious fate is unbefitting for so keen a mind that I would consider a rival." The human set down his cup of tea, steepling his hands as he looked directly at his cobalt guest. "But tell me; you didn't go to all the trouble to violate the quarantine your allies placed around my island just to reminisce about old times. Why have you come?" Sensing that the social portion of their visit was now over, Sonic too put down his drink.

"Someone tried to kill Knuckles on the Floating Island," he stated bluntly. The hedgehog watched as Robotnik's Eyebrow of Concern rose on his face, almost seeing it as the mental gears came up with all of the ramifications of Knuckles's untimely death.

"And I take it from the mangled robots in that crate you brought with you, I'm the prime suspect in this caper?" he asked evenly. At Sonic's confused expression, Eggman continued to explain. "The truck bed was a scanner. I knew what was inside before you even took your first step."

"You know, some would call that a gross violation of privacy."

"Oh come now, surely it has occurred to you that G.U.N. would be every bit as interested in getting a snooping device into my systems as I would be theirs. And Sheridan certainly wouldn't have any problems with using you as his dupe if he thought it would secure world peace. I imagine he has the same policy towards Shadow and Ark. No doubt a few of the 'scientists' up there are also reporting to some department buried deep in G.U.N. headquarters." Robotnik then leaned forward, his voice close to a whisper. "Were I you, I would not pass this little theory of mine on to Shadow. Even were I mistaken in my assessment of the Commander, I somehow doubt our paranoid little friend would be able to let the possibility go."

"So, getting back to the robots?" Sonic asked, steering the conversation back on track.

"Well, if it means anything, no, I did not make an attempt on our friend Knuckles's life. Though I am a touch curious that the machines appear to be sliced as opposed to crushed." In the back of his throat, Sonic growled a bit. This was the danger of talking to Robotnik, he was constantly trying to worm more information than you really wanted to give. Sonic was not stupid enough to tell his former enemy how vulnerable the Guardian of the Floating Island was. Even retired, there was a very good chance such information would tempt the Eggman into rearing his ugly head again.

"I wound up stumbling across them first," he lied. Robotnik nodded, then began to stand, taking hold of his cane to do so.

"Well then, let us see what our little mechanical friends can tell us." With a flourish, Robotnik pointed his cane at the far wall and pressed a button. Sonic's muscles tensed out of force of habit as he expected some wild trap to come leaping out of the walls or a horde of badniks to suddenly appear to attack him. Instead he watched as the wall split in half and began to slide open, revealing the biggest television screen the hedgehog had ever seen in a home in his life.

"Woah," the retired hero said, imagining what such a system could do for some of his horror movies.

"Please close your mouth Sonic, before a fly gets caught in it," Eggman quipped. Another button push and the screen flickered for a bit before displaying a list of numbers Sonic could only guess the meaning of. "Every one of my robots possess a serial number and a call number that allows me to keep track of them from the day they roll of the assembly line to their inevitable bifurcation at your hands. Let us just see who these three errant little boys were at one point." Robotnik used his cane like a wand, pointing towards three numbers that Sonic could barely read. The cursor began to blink for all three as three new windows appeared on the screen, each one displaying a picture of one of the robots Sonic had destroyed, along with information on their service records with Robotnik.

"Hmm. It seems these three were part of my first real attack on Station Square, during the whole Chaos debacle. Which still doesn't explain how they showed up on Angel Island."

"Were they perhaps part of a sale? A bit of easy money you're forgetting about?" Sonic asked pointedly, causing Robotnik to chortle.

"Ah, you knew to ask. But no, had they been, ah, out-sourced shall we say, there would have been a record of it in their files. Someone rebuilt them without my knowledge."

"Great," Sonic spat, getting up from the comfy chair he'd been sitting in, "then we're back to square one."

"Oh ye of little faith and even less patience, there is more than one way for us to divine where these particular robots were before they found themselves up on Angel Island. And truthfully I didn't really expect much from their serial numbers; I just wanted to know who they were." Again the cane clicked, and again the screen changed, this time showing a picture of what was obviously a robotics lab where the remains of the three robots had been taken. A living native was moving about the pieces, draped in a lab coat and a facemask as a precaution. "Ah, Tommy, are we ready to begin?"

"Almost Doctor," the human said as he finished connecting one of the robot's heads to a computer. "I'm afraid one of the specimen's memory cores was too badly damaged to hook up. Someone went and sliced it in half." At this the man cast an annoyed look at Sonic, who could only grin sheepishly in response.

"Now now, this is not the time for recriminations. Start the feed." Obediently the technician punched in a few commands on the computer. Two more windows appeared on either side of the screen as the computers in the lab began to read the robots' programming. It was all gibberish to Sonic, but Robotnik seemed quite able to understand what was being shown. "Hmm, well at the very least, this proves these robots were not acting under my orders. This isn't even remotely the programming language I use in my creations."

"How comforting."

"Snark if you like, hedgehog, but this is still most troubling. The programming is crude but sufficient. Someone knew what they were doing, but they didn't care enough to use their best efforts. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost swear they were made to be fou…" Suddenly the entire building rocked as an explosion occurred just outside, sending Eggman tumbling painfully to the ground. Like a shot Sonic was at his side, only to be knocked away by Mecha-Sonic. "What the blazes?! What happened?" Robotnik cried as he was helped to his feet by his mechanical servant. The big screen fizzled for awhile before displaying a picture of a new room, this one set up to look like a command center or something. Another human appeared onscreen, dressed in a hat and looking just a bit bedraggled.

"Sir, we have incoming reports of multiple missile attacks upon Eggtopia." Robotnik turned an angry look back on his supposed guest.

"Was this your plan Sonic? Get me to lower my defenses so that your friends in G.U.N. can wipe me out?"

"No, no I swear, that wasn't…

"Sir, radar confirms incoming missiles targeting the blockade ships. We need to…" Again the screen fizzled before going dead. Already sensing something was wrong, Sonic raced outside onto the balcony of Robotnik's home and straight up to the roof. With alarming quickness the sky darkened as above the city a massive ship comparable to the size of the Floating Island itself suddenly decloaked. On its underside Sonic could just make out a familiar picture of a bird's talon crushing the entire planet.

"Attention citizens of Eggtopia. You are hereby ordered to surrender before the power of the Imperial War Tengu," blasted a voice over loudspeakers that seemed to be situated on the craft.

"What the heck are those chickens of the skies doing here?" the hedgehog asked as he watched several hundred hatches on the ship's underside opened up. Like a swarm of angry hornets, thousands and thousands of plans, transports, and other flying menaces came out of the craft, accompanied by several more missiles that struck the city with a terrible vengeance. What got the hedgehog's attention the most, however, was the squadron that didn't stay over the city, instead rocketing off towards the beach; the exact same stretch of beach Sonic himself had landed in. Fearing the worst, Sonic raced after the group, tearing through Eggtopia even as he saw several troops being landed in the streets along with ground support vehicles for an invasion. He made it to the beach where his worst fears were confirmed, the Fremen was under attack. Frantic to find some way to help, Sonic could only watch helplessly as the battleship began to smoke violently before being rocked by its own explosions. Horrified green eyes watched as the formerly solid floating fortress broke into two halves, both of which began to steadily sink beneath the waves. As he watched the rising wave caused by the displacement of that much water, all Sonic could do was scream.

"NOOOO!"

To Be Continued…

Author's Note 2: Anyone out there who is currently crying may now go have a cookie on me,


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: bet you guys thought I'd forgotten about this, huh? Well shame on you! Seriously though, sorry this is so late. I lost access to my computer due to having a room-mate, but hopefully this chapter will make up for it. Like I said we're gonna be moving a little quickly in the past segments (skipping through the years) but this has made me think. If there's anyone out there who likes this story idea (Tails raising Sonic and such) please feel free to write your own versions of events that might have happened. Heck if it's good enough, I might even ask if I can reference it in canon. Obviously I'm already planning to do a last day segment, but feel free to use any other events you might like. As usual, if you read, please review. Reviews are how we fanfic author's feed our egos.

Disclaimer: It's in the first chapter. Come on, if I owned these characters you think the game stories would be as bad as they've been?

* * *

Past (12.25 years ago)

* * *

"So what happened to me Doc?" Tails asked of his friend and physician Robert Labris. The wolf absently scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with an answer that would not only satisfy the fox, but himself as well.

"I… don't really know," he finally admitted, an admission that caused the other occupant of the hospital room to get to his hooved feet.

"What do you mean you do not know?" Cervid said with a sharp edge to his voice. "You've been running a veritable battery of tests on Mr. Prower since his admittance, and you tell us now that they have yielded no results?"

"There have been results," the doctor said, trying not to take any offense at the deer's tone. He understood how frustrating getting this sort of information was. "In point of fact all the tests told us that Miles is perfectly healthy. There was no sign of an infection, no sign of toxins, and no sign of hemorrhaging. Nothing that would give a reason for you to lose consciousness for twenty-four hours like you did." One of Miles's eyebrows rose at his friend's explanation.

"Do you normally check for infections for a fainting spell?"

"We check for everything when the easiest answers don't show up," Labris responded. "But your son mentioned when you were brought in that he'd seen some sort of green haze going into the carpet before he entered your office, so we thought it best to err on the side of caution in this case."

"Needless to say, I will be having your office re-carpeted before you return home," Mr. Cervid intoned, already making a note in his electronic organizer.

"What about Sonic?" Miles asked, concern in his voice. "Did you…"

"We ran tests on him but, aside from the residual effects of the panic attack he suffered, nothing was out of the ordinary. That he didn't fall unconscious as you did leads me to believe that whatever got you lost its potency by the time Sonic showed up."

"Got me?" Labris exhaled sharply.

"A thorough examination of your office revealed the pieces of what look like a glass ampoule of some sort. There appears to be a residue of some kind on the shards, but so far we've had no luck trying to identify it so far. Any information you can share as to the container's origins might be helpful."

"The last thing I remember was finally solving my mother's old puzzle box, the one she got from Little Planet. A hatch opened up when I did." The wolf nodded his head, guessing the rest.

"We'll probably want to look at the box too then," he decided. "Be that as it may, I still want to keep you here for observation for a few days."

"You did say you couldn't find anything wrong with me," Miles pointed out, not at all thrilled at the prospect of being trapped in a hospital room longer than necessary. He went nuts when he was at home with nothing to do.

"People don't just faint for no reason Miles," his doctor countered. "It could be that something has entered your system and is just laying dormant for now. There are far too many pathogens out there that only really become detectable a few days after infection. I'm not about to let you walk out that door just to croak on me a few days from now."

"You needn't fear Mr. Prower. I shall see to the day to day operations of the company while you are indisposed, and Mrs. Axelby has volunteered to look after young Olgilvie. Everything is taken care of." Still the fox grumped as laid back down on his hospital bed, arms crossed and looking just a little like a petulant child thanks to his youthful features.

"I suppose I've no choice in this instance," Miles responded. Robert slapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh come on Milesy, it's not going to be that bad," the wolf assured him. "No need to act like you're being sent to Prison Island or anything like that."

"Yeah, if I was, the food would probably be better," quipped the reluctant patient. "Fine, I'll try not to be a curmudgeonly old patient then. But if we don't find anything Robert I fully expect you to reimburse me for lost wages from missing work." Labris laughed at the snide joke.

"Well, since you appear to be in good spirits, I suppose it would be a good idea to bring in the guest who's been waiting to see you," Cervid responded, once more rising from his seat and straightening out his suit.

"Visitor?" Miles asked, already guessing who it might be. His suspicions were confirmed by his assistant's next statement.

"Yes, of the blue and spiky variety," the deer said in what was probably as close to a joking manner as he could without shattering the fundamental laws of reality. "I shall go makes sure he is not otherwise occupied at the moment and then send him in for you." With that, Michael Cervid turned on his heel and left.

* * *

Out in the waiting room Sonic sat, trying to keep occupied by reading an old copy of "Highlights" the hospital had. It was a mark of his level of stress that he was resorting to actually reading to keep himself distracted. Beside him Mrs. Axelby sat; her feather boa in the chair next to her and a celebrity gossip magazine in her hands. Her granddaughter was absent only because the girl had taken a summer job and been expected to report to work. Not that Sonic minded. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted a big crowd here with him, even if they were trying to be supportive.

Absently the hedgehog toyed with the collar of his shirt, one of the nice dress shirts Miles had bought him for when they went out to dinner and needed something more than fur and quills to look presentable. Once their apartment had been declared safe, with the exception of Miles's office, Sonic had been allowed to go to his room and collect some things for his stay with the Axelbys. Mrs. Axelby had insisted he the shirt be what he wear today, acting no doubt on the assumption that a well dressed child was a happy child. In all honesty, Sonic couldn't have cared less. How could wearing a nice shirt hide the fact that his father was in a hospital, for reasons no one either knew or had yet to decide to inform him on.

About the only good thing that had come out of this was that he and Carl were speaking again. That the owner of one of the premier engineering companies in the world had been laid up, it had made the news the very next day, so of course the monkey had seen it. It had taken some doing, but Carl had managed to track down his hedgehog friend at his new temporary residence and offer his sympathies.

The soft sound of a throat clearing managed to snag Sonic's attention from the magazine, not that that was overly difficult to do. He looked up to see his father's personal assistant look down at him patiently. How the massive deer had managed to get so close without the hedgehog knowing was a mystery as Cervid had always possessed a presence Sonic could almost taste when he was nearby.

"Dr. Labris has said that if you wish to visit your father, it would be permissible to do so," he said in a soft, disciplined voice. A part of Sonic wanted to leap up and punch the deer in the face for his apparent lack of emotion.

_'Dad may be dying and this walking stone carving can't even feel upset about it!'_ Sonic's internal monologue raged. Immediately that part was quashed. It was not in Michael Cervid's nature to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but just because you couldn't see him upset was no indicator he wasn't. Getting mad at his lack of an emotional display was like getting mad at fish for swimming in water or birds for flying in the air.

"If you would prefer to see him another time…" the deer began to offer, no doubt taking Sonic's lack of response for a sense of uncertainty.

"No," the cub said, tossing aside the "Highlights" and hopping off his chair. Quickly he turned to Mrs. Axelby who had not moved from her own seat.

"It's all right dear, you go on ahead and see your father," the older woman said with a smile. "I'll be waiting right here until you're done." With that assurance, Sonic turned and followed as Mr. Cervid led him through a door out of the waiting area. Once the fox's condition had been declared stabilized, Miles had been moved to a private room and it was to there that the hedgehog was being guided. Along the way he noted several more room with their doors closed, though a few were open and occupied, often showing other patients watching television or talking with friends and family. Ever curious, Sonic forced himself to continue walking, entering an elevator. They disembarked on the ninth floor, which Sonic noted was not the hospital's top floor.

"Hope Dad isn't too bummed about not being as high as possible," Sonic said in a quiet voice, hoping to break the silence.

"I'm sure he has more important matters on his mind," the deer responded, and then added, "but it would probably be helpful if you didn't mention it to him."

Finally they arrived at room 915 and Cervid opened the door to allow Sonic to enter. Inside Miles still sat in his bed, propped up by his pillows and talking to the wolf Sonic recognized as Robert Labris. At some point after the deer assistant's departure someone had brought in a tray of food that now sat next to the bed, obvious signs that someone had been picking at it. Upon Sonic's arrival, a big smile plastered itself on Miles's face as the fox waved to him.

"Hey kiddo," he said in a strong voice. Automatically Sonic wondered if that was just for show to put his mind at ease, but he approached nevertheless.

"Hey, Pop," he said as he hopped up on the bed. All in all Miles didn't look too bad. There were no tubes running out of the fox's body like Sonic was used to seeing when a show he watched cut to a medical hospital. Only the sensor that connected the vulpine to a beeping heart monitor was present, and even it blended almost seamlessly into Mile's cream colored chest fur. Some part of Sonic began to relax. "So, how's it hanging?" he asked, wanting to hear what his father had to say. Though not naïve enough to believe Miles would never lie to him, he did trust his adoptive guardian to trust him with more of the truth than any other adult.

"Rob's not entirely sure," Miles said bluntly. Nearby the wolf "hrmph"-ed a bit, but said nothing. "Apparently I fainted for no reason he can see right now." Emerald eyes suddenly looked at the doctor.

"But people don't just…" Before Sonic could begin, Miles interrupted.

"We already went down this road earlier," he admitted. "The lack of a clear cut answer is why Robert wants me to stay in the hospital for a few more days, to make sure nothing's been missed."

"More likely than not it was simply a transitory… a temporary ailment of some kind. A test will probably reveal that whatever was in that vial was some ancient 'knock-out gas' or something." The hedgehog frowned at this. He didn't like big words. They were usually used by people who didn't have any answers but didn't want to admit it. Still, Dr. Labris did seem to think nothing was wrong, and Miles trusted him.

"Of course this means you're going to have to stay with Mrs. Axelby for the week, okay," Miles pointed out, causing Sonic's head to bob up and down.

"Sure, no prob Pop. She already helped me move some stuff outta my room and letting me bunk on her couch that turns into a bed.'

"Good. And you know to be on your best behavior while there," this last part was said with blue eyes wide open and staring straight into Sonic's emerald ones, the standard "no nonsense" gaze the fox employed. Given the macaroni incident that had happened when Sonic and company had spent the night at Mighty's home, it was somewhat justified. Again Sonic nodded his head, this time a bit more vigorously to assure the laid up vulpine of his intentions.

* * *

Present

* * *

"NOOO!" Sonic yelled as he watched the flaming Fremen slowly sinking beneath the waves. Plumes of smoke rose through the air from the sight, offset by the redness of the flames. Desperately Sonic began to run, racing about the beach in a tight circle, picking up speed with each lap he made. Once he'd judged himself going fast enough, the hedgehog made a sharp turn in the opposite direction, racing out across the water. Stubbornly he pushed all thoughts of what could happen if he slowed down from his mind, focusing on his goal as he shot straight towards the wreck.

Within moments Sonic had arrived, his head darting about as he looked for a place to get aboard the sinking hulk. All about him damaged sheets of metal and debris floated, but so too, thankfully, did the lifeboats. Sonic could see the crew were in the process of evacuating, a fact that lightened his mood a bit. Survivors were always a good sign.

"Help. Help!" a weak voice suddenly called out, snagging the hedgehog's attention. A G.U.N. seaman was floating in the water, clutching a piece of debris to keep himself aloft. The reddish tint of the water near him indicated he was injured, and even if it wasn't serious, he would most likely attract predators is left alone to bleed. Quickly Sonic changed his course, racing over to the sailor. Even with his fantastic momentum, the hedgehog nearly stumbled when he grabbed hold of the man's arm and towed him to the relative safety of a larger piece of the ship where some of his crewmates were waiting. The sudden sound of something heavy striking metal alerted Sonic to his next target as he used a bit of broken ship to vault at the sinking metal. Before he could make his first cut, however, a whole section of the ship broke way, falling flat onto the water to from a makeshift raft. Sonic landed just in time to watch as dozens of formerly trapped sailors jumped onto the metal plating, as well as a certain pink hedgehog.

"SONIC!" Amy squealed as she saw her blue beau, dropping her hammer and wrapping her arms around him. "You came to rescue me, I knew you would!"

"Yeah, because you so look like you need rescuing," Sonic pointed out as some of the lifeboats made their way over to the impromptu raft. That was when he remembered Amy wasn't the only one who'd been on the ship. "Ames, what happened? Where's Tails?" he asked desperately. At the questions Amy's face went solemn.

"These birds just came out of nowhere. The captain didn't even get a radar blip on them when they suddenly started attacking. I took Tails below to be safe but…" At this point the pink hedgehog looked away, just a little ashamed of herself. Though under different circumstances Sonic would have consoled his girlfriend, at this point he simply didn't have the patience.

"Amy, what happened to Tails?"

"It was this green bird, like a woodpecker. He just shot though the metal walls like a missile. When he spotted us he just said 'Finally!' and then grabbed Tails before I could stop him. I tried to stop him Sonic, I really did, but he just ripped his way through the ship and the next thing I knew, everything was collapsing. It felt like the ship was sinking and we couldn't get up so I just started trying to knock a whole out so we wouldn't all drown." Despite recounting this fairly heroic action, Amy still looked somewhat contrite, and Sonic had little trouble understanding why.

"Don't worry about it Amy, we'll get him back," the blue hedgehog assured her, even as his own worry-levels were skyrocketing.

But what if they…"

"They're not going to hurt him, not yet anyway," Sonic reasoned. "This wasn't just a random attack. The Battle Birds were here waitin' for us. They planned this. My guess is they snagged Tails as a hostage or somethin' which means he's only valuable ta them while he's alive and healthy." Emerald eyes looked back towards Eggtopia where the massive flying fortress of the Imperial War Tengu still hovered. "My guess is Greenie took him there. And that's where I'm headed."

"I wouldn't advise that Sonic," the Captain of the Fremen said as he approached Sonic from his lifeboat. "G.U.N. will soon be made aware of this most egregious attack on one of their vessels and when that happens I doubt they'll waste much time preparing an appropriate response. Most likely that giant flying target the Battle Birds have brought with them will not be airborne for much longer."

"Isn't there supposed to be satellite surveillance of Eggtopia?" the hedgehog pointed out. Archer looked at him quizzically.

"Of course. I showed you the photos taken of Robotnik myself, didn't I?"

"Yeah, which means G.U.N. should already know about it and should at least being coordinating their other ships to do a rescue," Sonic responded, pointing to the other vessels in the area that were only just now starting to move towards the ailing Fremen. "My guess is the Battle Birds have knocked out all communications, made one big dead zone with that monster ship of theirs and all G.U.N. or any of the allied nations know is no one's talking."

"But then won't they just assume the worst and respond accordingly?" Amy asked. Big Blue only shook his head.

"If they knew Eggy was getting his butt handed to him by an invader, maybe; but all they have to go on is the possibility Eggman's started up his whole evil empire shtick again. And with a year to plan, or make allies," a pointed look was given to Archer, "nobodies' gonna be too eager to be the one to throw the first punch. My guess is it'll be hours before anyone realizes what's going on, and by then Eggman's defenses will be down and then…"

"Then we'll be right back where we started," Captain Archer concluded, "only with the expansionist War Tengu in command of Eggman's defenses and technology instead of the Doctor. Even if they could only be able to be on the defensive for a while, it wouldn't be long before they'd be launching attacks on everyone; with the forces to overwhelm us all before we could stop them."

"'Xactly," Sonic said, turning on a heel as he began to move towards the edge of the metal raft.

"Sonic, where are you going?" Amy called out, fearful her boyfriend was about to do something stupid. Her fears were not exactly allayed by the answer she received.

"I'm going back to Eggtopia. I'm going to see if I can help Eggman."

* * *

(12.25 years ago)

* * *

A black limo pulled up the hospital, pulling off to the side and as much out of the way as a vehicle of its size could.

"Looks like we're here, squirt," the driver, a cat named Stan (Stan the Man, Stan-Credible, Stan-Tastic, and so many others that Cervid had very nearly fired the Mobian for being too many people to count) as he got out of the car's driver's seat and jumped out. Quickly he moved over to the passenger's door and opened it, letting out his charge.

"Not likin' the new nickname, Stan," Sonic pointedly said as he hopped out of the limo, once more dressed in fancy clothes "Just call me Sonic, okay."

"Sure, sure," the cat said with a grin. "I'll be waitin' out here for you to get back, so take all the time you like." The hedgehog nodded as he headed into the hospital. Inside the sliding glass door stood the familiar figure of Mr. Cervid, hands clasped behind his back and stature so tight he might have been mistaken for a statue. The deer had practically moved into the hospital with his employer in order to make sure everything went smoothly, and Sonic felt a twinge of guilt that he hadn't been back to this place since his visit a few days ago.

Not that he hadn't been busy. Pretty much everyone he knew had been trying their hardest to keep his mind off what had happened. Mrs. Axelby had taken him to one of her very favorite plays, an old comedy involving a man pretending to be a foreigner as he stayed at a bed and breakfast in his own country. Ray had dragged him to a card tournament and even provided Sonic with a deck from the squirrel's collection so he could participate. Mighty and Carl had taken him to the arcade on their dime. And Sam and her friends had taken him to the mall for some shopping, which was where his present ensemble had come from. He had to admit, it was better looking than the sailor suit the girls had somehow managed to talk him into trying on. Sonic shuddered as he remembered the squeal of some pink girl hedgehog when she'd spotted him, shouting out that he "looks so KAWAI!"

Once Sonic got close enough, Cervid came to life, moving towards the hedgehog purposefully.

"Are we doing well today?" the deer asked cordially.

"'We' are fine," the hedgehog said back, smiling a bit as he tweaked the larger Mobian's all-too-formal mannerisms. Then he got serious. "What I'm worried about is how Dad's doing."

"Allow me to allay you fears then. Mr. Prower seems to be most fit and healthy. I'm told by Dr. Labris that, aside from a few explainable anomalies, all of Mr. Prower's test results came back negative. He should be quite able to be discharged today." Sonic breathed an internal sigh of relief as he followed the deer back to an elevator. "I should point out, however, that it would not be advisable for anyone to engage in any overly strenuous activities after being released from the hospital. It would be wise to allow your father time to rest and recuperate."

"Ah you worry too much," Sonic said, his normal high spirits once more returning to hum. "He's had days to rest in this place. Miles isn't gonna wanna lie around the house all day like some schlump." Very soon they were in the hall leading up to Miles's room. Inside the hedgehog could hear the sound of the fox's voice as he conversed with someone else, most likely Dr. Labris. Unable to contain himself, Sonic opened the door and skip-jumped onto the bed, wrapping his arms around the vulpine's chest in a tight hug, glad Miles had been pronounced okay.

It was only a second or so later that he realized that, while his arms indeed held his father tightly, the hug had not yet been returned. This was odd if only for the fact that Miles Prower was a very affectionate Mobian by nature. It was not in his nature to not return a hug from someone close to him. Curious, Sonic looked up to see what was wrong, only to catch a peculiar look on Miles's face as the fox quizzically looked down at him.

"Uh, I'm sorry little boy, but is there a reason you're hugging me?" Miles asked. The hedgehog's eyebrows moved in confusion, surprised at the question and wondering where it had come from. Deciding this was simply the fox indulging in his somewhat weird sense of humor, the boy let out a short laugh.

"Come on, it's me, Sonic." When this failed to remove the confused look from the fuzzy face, the hedgehog in question added, "your son." Miles shook his head, blinking a bit.

"Son?" he asked, and then let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm sorry, but you must be mistaken. I've been considering adopting yes, but I haven't actually gone through with it." Behind Sonic both Labris and Cervid shot alarmed looks at each other.

"Mr. Prower, young Olgilvie… young _Sonic_ has been living with you for a little over two years now. You adopted him personally from Green Hill Orphanage," the deer pointed out. "I witnessed the signing of the papers myself."

"I… I did?" Miles asked; his paw going to his head as his eyes closed. A worried Sonic craned his neck around to keep looking into the fox's face, trying to figure out himself what was wrong with his father. "Yes… Yes, I did. That odious little toady Price kept trying to prove I wasn't fit to be a parent, didn't she?" Furry hands gently but urgently moved Sonic aside as Doctor Labris moved in. Carefully the wolf doctor lifted the fox's head and stared into his eyes.

"Interesting…" Labris commented.

"What happened?" Sonic demanded. "What's wrong with him? Why didn't he remember me?"

"That's what I'd like to know too," a concerned Miles Prower seconded as his doctor's hands began to rove gently over his head.

"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "Are you having any trouble remembering anything else? Cervid? Myself?"

"I know both of you! I knew you both the moment you came in, but I couldn't even place Sonic's name!"

"All right, all right, calm down."

"What about your friend, Mrs. Axelby?" Mr. Cervid suggested. "Or Dr. Scranton?

"Yes and yes on both counts," responded the fox irritably.

"What about Mighty, or Ray or Carl?" Sonic asked, wishing he knew more prominent names to test out.

"… yes." The hedgehog's ears drooped a bit, not liking that his father seemed to remember Sonic's friends but not Sonic himself. It was Cervid who also reacted, his eyebrow cocking in response to the pause he'd heard before his employer had answered.

"Sir, what do you remember about the Gravity Drive?" he asked

"It's a machine we're developing in our labs," Miles responded. "It counters the force of gravity to allow a vehicle to float in the air with minimum energy expenditure. We're supposed to show it off to G.U.N. in a few weeks." Cervid let out a grumbling sigh as he looked back at Labris/

"And tell me, you've said that you remember Dr. Scranton. Do you know that he no longer works for Prower Aerodynamic?"

"He doesn't? Did he quit or…" Again the paw went to the head, "no… no I… I fired him. Threatened to kill him and had him thrown in jail because… because he helped Kukku steal the GD. And I fought Kukku to get it back… no, I fought him to get Sonic back, didn't I?" Miles looked up at his assistant. "How much more have I forgotten?"

"From the sounds of it, it appears you've forgotten the better part of the last two years," the deer said. "How that happened I have no idea? Labris?"

"I'm not sure. There's no sign of any sort of trauma, just like when we checked you out when you came in."

"But, if he forgot everything from two years, how come he remembered my friends but not me?" Sonic asked. Cervid's hand gripped his long chin.

"I'd wager once he remembered you, your friends were easy enough." Labris removed his hand from Miles's head, biting down on his left index finger, a sure sign the wolf was puzzled. "As to what caused your lapse in memory though, I've not the foggiest. You certainly had no trouble remembering who Sonic was a few days ago."

"Is it possible the tests missed something, Doctor?" Cervid asked. Still the wolf bit his finger.

"Anything's possible, but we were as thorough as possible with Miles. I did everything short of performing an exploratory." Worry crossed Labris's face as he considered all the possibilities. "Miles, I'd like to keep you for a bit more observation."

"More tests?" the fox asked. "Do you really think that would help?"

"I wasn't comfortable letting you go before we knew if anything was wrong with you, and I'm certainly not interested in letting you loose if you're experiencing memory loss." Sonic's face fell at the news his father would not be leaving today, but he was not foolish enough to give voice to his disappointment, particularly if something was really wrong with the vulpine.

"What about that green mist?" he asked, his voice hopeful. "The stuff that knocked him out. Could that have been what caused him to forget about me?"

"Well, we tested the residue we found on the glass, but…"

"But?"

"All we found was… well, crud," Labris admitted. "There were a few compounds of course, but nothing that isn't found in abundance in city air. Certainly nothing that should have been able to knock Miles out. Everything else was just, odds and ends. Leftover proteins, half-formed chemical chains; just junk." Again the finger went to the mouth. "I'd honestly thought after finding that out you're fainting spell was merely from you overworking yourself." Labris stood up now, his brow furrowed as he moved towards the door. "Don't worry Miles, we'll find the cause of this."


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: No, I am not dead! I know, I know, I've claimed this before, but I just got very wrapped up making an entry for the Tails Art Contest Archie is (was) holding. I'm gunning for runner up because I like the prizes better. It bothers me that the TAILS Art contest has Sonic and Knuckles things for first prize rather than something displaying the fox we all know and love. In any event, I'm back on trying to get this done, so hopefully there will be some fresh updates soon. Enjoy and remember to read and review.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own this… yet.

* * *

Past 12 years ago.

* * *

Sonic sat at the breakfast table in Mrs. Axelby's apartment, eating the frosted covered Ricey-O's she'd bought specifically for him, and feeling just a little blue. It had been weeks since he'd come to stay with the woman and he was feeling just a touch homesick. Miles remained in the hospital under Dr. Labris's watchful eye. And this worried the hedgehog.

Officially very little information was being given out on the fox's condition, mainly to protect the stock of Prower Aerodynamic. Someone had come to the conclusion that the less Sonic knew, the less he could accidentally leak to the press when they inevitably tried to ambush him. That this "protection" was driving the hedgehog crazy didn't seem to register with anyone. To make matters worse, school would be starting soon, which meant Sonic's time would be occupied once more with Reading, and Writing and 'Rithmatic, and he would be unable to go see his father as regularly as he had been doing.

_'Which makes no sense.'_ Sonic thought as he stirred his now soggy cereal, shuddering a bit as it sloshed around unappetizingly. '_Dad doesn't look bad. He hasn't had any trouble remembering anything else. Why won't they let him go!'_

"Sonic dear, are you almost done?" Mrs. Axelby asked as she came into the dining room, putting on the big, dangling earrings she loved almost as much as her feather boa. Sonic scowled a bit at the woman, wishing she'd stop intruding on his desire to be alone and brood. Almost immediately he felt guilty. It certainly wasn't as though she HAD to take Sonic in. And though he normally wouldn't have minded staying with his Grandfather and his new housekeeper, Sonic wasn't overly enthusiastic about being so far away from Station Square while his Dad was all laid up. Quietly he swallowed his disdain.

"I'm almost done, Mrs. Axelby," he said as he forced another bite of the slushy cereal, penance for his previous thoughts. It didn't hurt that the elderly woman was not a fan of children who didn't clean their plates. Sonic felt as though he'd put on ten extra pounds since he'd come here. Closing his eyes, the hedgehog gobbled down the rest of the cereal, drinking the lactose free milk it had been swimming in. "All done!" he said as he hopped off the chair and took his dishes over to the sink. A bit of water and scrubbing and they were ready for the dishwasher.

"Excellent. Now go get ready and we'll leave."

"Leave?" This was odd. It was way earlier than the usual time they left to visit the hospital. Sonic had been planning to bum around for a while in the guest bedroom he was currently occupying, wallow a bit in his misery.

"Well yes, Sonic dear. I thought we'd spend the day shopping for your return to school." At this last part Mrs. Axelby looked positively giddy. For Sonic, all it did was cause alarm bells to sound in his head. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of his shopping trip with Sam.

"Uh, that's all right Mrs. A, I'm sure Dad wouldn't want you to go to any trouble on my part. We'll just wait until he's back home and do it then," the hedgehog replied, holding his hands up as if to ward off the older woman.

"Oh tosh, it's no bother at all," she said as she ushered him towards his prized shoes and gloves. Left with no choice, Sonic dressed and washed his face. Absently his temporary guardian reached for a comb, but then stopped herself. Sonic's head quills had proved resilient to even the most persistent of grooming and Mrs. Axelby had already lost three fairly sturdy combs trying. Soon human and Mobian were getting into the old woman's car and driving off.

* * *

Dr. Labris massaged his head slowly, wishing with all his heart that he could just wash his hands of his current case and go get a drink. But of course that was an impossibility. Even putting aside just how bad a doctor that would make him, Miles was still his best friend and abandoning the fox now when he was needed would be unthinkable. And so, grudgingly, the wolf doctor took hold of the file folder he'd been brought by one of the nursing staff, the results from the latest round of tests that had been done on Miles Prower.

"Nothing," Labris spit as he looked through the pages. "Absolutely nothing. I might as well be dancing around with a stick and feathers for all I'm seeing here." The lupine glared at the report, as if willing the body it depicted to surrender its secrets. It wasn't as though he didn't have reason to worry. Though they'd done a good job of hiding the details from the public, the truth of the matter was that Miles had suffered eight more memory lapses since his first. That worried Labris, even if each incident had been relatively easy to reverse. Again he opened the file, flipping directly to a CAT-scan they'd taken.

_'There's no reason he should be suffering memory loss, even considering his dad. So why IS HE?'_ Quietly the large Mobian opened his desk drawer, pulling forth a bottle of cognac and a small shot glass. Though he didn't often indulge, Dr. Labris did find that a small nip did help him focus on his harder cases. Pouring a glass, the wolf tossed it back into his maw and then put the glass and bottle back in their previous home. No sense in letting temptation go where it was not wanted.

A groan escaped his lips as he ran his paws through his head fur and looked down at the scans. Time was running out. Miles could not stay here indefinitely, he had a company to run and sooner or later speculation by outsiders would cause him more harm than staying here did him good.

_'This is the worst kind of problem,'_ Labris thought. '_One that doesn't show any signs it's there until it's too late to stop it.'_ Again fingers massaged scalp.

"Dr. Labris," a voice called, causing the wolf to look up. A skinny looking chinchilla in a white lab coat and glasses that seemed to only enhance the mousey quality of his face was standing in the doorway, shuffling nervously on his feet.

"Yes?" Labris asked as he tried to place where he'd seen this Mobian before. Memory told him that this was Dr. Dorian, a young pup just out of residency, and someone for whom the wolf had little time. Still, it wasn't as though he could just send the guy away and ignore him. "Was there something you wanted?" the wolf asked when the chinchilla seemed unable to continue.

"It's… It's about the Prower case," Dorian managed to stammer out. Automatically Labris's ears perked up. "I've been doing an independent investigation into Mr. Prower's situation you see and…" Wolfish eyes narrowed as they stared at the chinchilla.

"And just who told you to do that?" Labris asked suspiciously.

"I did it of my own accord," the surprised chinchilla responded, somewhat surprised at the question. It was then that he noticed the annoyed look he was receiving from the elder doctor. The last thing Labris needed was some young turk trying to make a name for himself. And if Dorian had not been careful enough with his inquiries, who knew how much unwanted attention he'd attracted to the case. Still, what was done was done and if the pup figured he'd found something while Labris's own well was dry, nothing productive would come from not hearing him out. At the very least he had eliminated a potential possibility.

"Fine, what have you discovered?"

"Well, since none of the tests so far have given any definitive information on what's going on, I decided to take another look at the cause."

"The residue's been inspected every which way but Sunday," Labris pointed out. "It is chemical junk."

"Well, yes and no," the chinchilla answered back. "It's junk, but it isn't junk that has any reason to be present."

"Say again?"

"Well, the stuff we found, it doesn't correspond to any mixtures we know of. Outside of someone actually putting them together, the chemicals have no business being together."

"Interesting, but what does that have to do with Miles's memory losses?"

"Uh… Nothing. At least by itself. But then I remembered that the supposed gas Mr. Prower's son saw and the ampoule on which we found the residue were originally inside a puzzle box that Mr. Prower had originally been trying to solve for some time. And the origins of the puzzle box were…" At this the young doctor held out his hand, as if prompting Labris to speak. And speak he did.

"I deplore guessing games, Dr. Dorian, and am in no mood for exuberance." Dorian took the hint.

"It came from Little Planet." This bit of information came as no surprise to Dr. Labris. After all, he'd known the puzzle box's origins even before this whole fiasco had started. But his colleague seemed to think this bit of information was important for some reason.

"Miles's mother did a lot of archaeological work on Little Planet, which is where she got the box before giving it to her son." Dorian's face immediately brightened at the mention of the late Mrs. Prower.

"Oh yes, Dr. Evelyn Gray, well I guess Evelyn Prower. I must admit Archaeology is a bit of a hobby of mind and I would have loved to meet the Doctor and pick her brain about…"

"Ah-hem!" Labris pointedly coughed, snapping the fuzzy newbie out of his geek-out.

"Right! So anyway, upon finding that out where the box came from, I decided to make some discreet inquiries into any other relics from Little Planet being attached to strange cases of memory loss. And I found this." A new file seemed to magically materialize on the wolf's desk, its only saving grace being that it was a thin file and would take little time to look at. Inside Labris found what basically amounted to fifteen case studies, each only a page or two long, but very concise. "The first one is Alexander Veltchman. He was a part of the team led by Duke Bellin, and the first man to set foot inside one of the sealed buildings at the site a little more than two hundred years ago during the first modern expedition to Little Planet. It was very hard to find that one. And further on we have a Mr. Yu, who was a night watchman at the _**?Xian?**_Museum of Antiquities before it was discovered he was pilfering exhibits. And then we have…"

"Can we hurry this along?"

"All these people came in contact with a green mist and then began to suffer sporadic memory loss. I think the same green mist was in the puzzle box Mr. Prower solved and accidentally opened." Labris grunted, flipping through the files once more, suddenly regarding them in a better light.

"Okay, so whatever happened to Miles also happened to these guys. There's a connection. All we have to do is find out what they had and…"

"I already have a theory on that," Dr. Dorian said. This time it was a thick, hardbound book that slammed onto Labris's desk, leaving the wolf to wonder just where the rodent physician was keeping all this stuff that he couldn't see it. "I did some research, both on these patients and on Little Planet, and what I found seems to fit the pattern, both where Miles…"

"Mr. Prower."

"…Uh right, Mr. Prower's condition is, and how it progressed in the fifteen previous cases. I believe he's caught something called 'Merlin's Disease.'" Labris looked at the chinchilla.

"Merlin's Disease? Sounds like something from a science fiction novel."

"Please, sir, hear me out." Dorian opened the book, flipping right to a page that had been marked by a neon orange tab. Quietly he cleared his throat before beginning to read. "'While one of the great many mysterious surrounding the Little Planet is how it came to gain it's out of time status, no less a mystery is the ultimate fate of its native citizenry. It has been theorized, and studies made of the ruins seem to indicate, that the planet fell subject to a civil war, the root cause of which may been the use of the legendary "Time Stones" said to reside on the planet. Several of the artifacts recovered from Little Planet seem to indicate an acute mastery of temporal mechanics. Theories abound as to the kinds of weapons a culture possessed of such knowledge could create to fight its wars with, but in all likelihood, these were what led to the demise of the civilization on Little Planet.'" The chinchilla looked at the wolf quietly for a moment or two before continuing. "Sir, I've been looking over the neurological data that you collected on Mr. Prower over the past few weeks. Comparing the older and new ones."

"And?"

"And, from what I can see, the reason his memories are getting so fuzzy, so hard to recall, is that his neurological pathways, the neurons that store his memories, and everything that supports them, are disappearing. Or, if I may, they're being unmade. I'd imagine a comparison of his tissue samples over this course of time would reveal younger cells with longer, more unbroken telomeres."

"You realize this sounds like the ravings of a madman," Labris pointed out, though his tone held no such accusation. If this was indeed the disease that was afflicting his friend and patient, then they couldn't afford to waste too much time making their case for treatment.

"I know that, sir, that's why I wanted to run it by you before committing to more tests. You know, to keep from walking down the wrong path." Labris picked up the files Dorian had given him and got up from his desk.

"Then I think we best go inform the patient of our suspicions," the wolf said, ignoring the pleased expression that came over the chinchilla's face at the word "our." Now all they had to do was convince Miles.

* * *

"What in the world are you wearing?" Miles laughed, almost falling out of his bed as he stared at his frustrated son.

"My new school clothes," the hedgehog said through gritted teeth, trying his hardest not to strip right there in front of everyone. If Sonic had thought the sailor suit Sam had previously put him in had been embarrassing, the outfit Mrs. Axelby had gotten him into made him simply want to drop dead.

That the little monstrosity required a small bow-tie as an accessory did not help matters in the least.

"Oh come now, I think Sonic looks quite dapper," Mrs. Axelby chimed in, reaching down to pat Sonic on the head before removing a speck of dust that had apparently decided to sit on his shoulder.

"Indeed, it might be prudent of you to get used to such an ensemble, Olgilivie," Mr. Cervid pointed out. "After all, if one day you should happen to take your father's place as the head of Prower Aerodynamic, you will be expected to know how to dress... smartly."

'_Oh sure, now Mr. Cervid decides to make jokes,'_ Sonic thought darkly, wishing the deer's antlers to spontaneously fall off.

Quickly Sonic walked over to Miles's bedside, the clicking of his new dress shoes reminding him he was unable to run for the moment, before plopping himself down on the nearby chair.

"Okay, so besides my new duds, what's new?" he asked. The fox's ears drooped a bit.

"Robert still doesn't have any idea what's wrong with me, though he's still insisting I remain under observation." It was at that point that the door to the hospital room opened, and Dr. Labris stepped in, followed closely by chinchilla none of the assembled had seen before. "Speak of the devil."

"Miles," the wolf said, then took note of the company he had, "everybody. This is Dr. Dorian." Suddenly he turned to Sonic specifically, a paw reaching into his labcoat's pocket. "Hey kiddo, how about you go over to the candy machine and get yourself something, my treat." So saying he offered the hedgehog cub a clean, crisp dollar. Immediately Sonic's guard went up. This was almost a textbook way to get rid of a kid deemed "too young" to hear any bad news and he was well aware that Dr. Labris didn't exactly want to keep him in the loop. Quietly emerald eyes glanced back at their father. Miles's head nodded slightly, silent request not to make a scene.

Quickly Sonic took hold of the dollar and exited the room, shutting the door behind him, all the better to prevent the adults from noticing him listening in anyway. While no doubt Miles would fill him in on anything important, first hand information was always preferable.

"All right Robert, what have you found?" the voice of Miles Prower asked.

"Nothing solid yet, though I'd like to perform a few more tests," the wolf admitted, causing a groan to arise from his audience.

"Really Dr. Labris," Mr. Cervid began in his gruff voice. "I can understand erring on the side of caution, but Mr. Prower does have a life to get back to and a business to run."

"I understand, I understand, but something new has come up," Labris intoned. That was when a new voice entered the conversation, a soft one Sonic had never heard before and could only conclude belonged to the chinchilla.

"I've been doing some research, comparing your test results to some other case studies and, well…" The voice trailed off, and for a second Sonic thought the conversation had become too quiet to hear through the door. His fears were allayed by the sound of his father's voice asking the obvious question.

"And what you found was…?"

"We think you may have contracted something called Merlin's Disease," Labris continued for his quiet companion. Again there was silence, no doubt the others considering this news.

"I've never heard of this 'Merlin's Disease,'" Cervid said, ever the skeptic.

"Me neither," Miles concluded.

"I'm not surprised," the new voice of Dorian explained. "It's a rare disease, mainly because it's connected to the Little Planet. Like I told Dr. Labris, there have only been a few cases confirmed over the past few centuries. But they all have the same start, a sudden, unexplained loss of memory, temporary at first but gradually…"

"It becomes harder and harder to undo," Labris finished. "But it's more than a simple loss of memory. The victim's body begins to… rewind through time, getting younger and younger as the disease progresses.

"This… This is preposterous," Cervid said. "This sounds of more sorcery than science."

"There's a saying that the most sophisticated of sciences is almost indistinguishable from magic to someone who doesn't know the secret." This came from Miles, and Sonic could almost imagine him holding his chin in his hand as he contemplated the news he'd been given. "And Heaven knows our grasp of the things on Little Planet is moderate at best. It's quite possible an artificial virus could have been created there that would defy anything we know." There was a pause. "Which really doesn't bode well for the possibility of a cure, does it?"

"We… We don't know for sure that this is even what you have Miles. Like I said, we're going to run a few more tests to make sure…"

"But if I have it, what are the chances for a cure?" A huff of breath was heard, and then Dr. Dorian spoke.

"Not good I'm afraid. Of the fifteen cases I studied, none survived, though to be fair none actually succumbed to the disease itself. Like a virus that attacks the immune system, it would seem Merlin's Disease sets the stage for opportunistic infection and such once the immune system has lost its guard."

"I see. And how long would I have?"

"Well, that's the good news. It appears to be a slow acting virus, so we have time. I'm sure with the proper study, we can find some way to counteract the effects and hopefully, ultimately find a cure." More silence.

"I'm sorry we don't have better news for you Miles, or even more complete news than we have.' It was at this point that Sonic moved away from the door, moving as fast as he dared to over to the vending machine. Quickly he pushed the dollar into the machine, roughly punching the buttons and waiting impatiently for the chocolate bar he'd selected to fall. Though not a doctor, Sonic was perfectly aware of what the words "disease" and "no cure" usually meant together.

As the candy bar fell, emerald eyes squeezed shut to hold back the tears.

* * *

Present

* * *

Back in the city, the place looked like a wreck. Fires were everywhere as buildings crumbled under the Battle Birds' assault. Here and there city defenses attempted to strike back, often scoring hits by surprising the enemy by their presence, only to be destroyed a few minutes later when the avians regrouped to attack again. The ground forces were doing moderately better, the War Tengu had never been known for their strength on the ground, but it was clearly not enough with the constant harassment of both the planes and the bombs coming from the gigantic ship that even now dominated the sky over Eggtopia.

Of course the irony of all this was not entirely lost on Dr. Robotnik. As the rotund scientist sat in his command chair, his eyes "treated" to the sight of yet another launched Buzz-Bomber squadron being shot down almost as soon as they left their hanger, he couldn't help but consider just how much less fun invasion was from this side of the campaign.

"Dr. Robotnik," one of the technicians in the room with him yelped. "It looks as though the birds are releasing yet another group of ground forces in Sector V. Uno says he can't repel them for much longer if he doesn't get help." A single finger pressed a button on the command chair's armrest. One of the room's video screens changed to show a skinny gentleman in a labcoat hurriedly welding something.

"Beatles, are you finished arming the new troops?" Robotnik asked.

"Jes finished 'em Doc," the man said, his short blonde hair frizzing a bit from static as he punched a button to send the robot he'd been working on off to join its mates. "I was jes about ra send 'em on their way."

"Then do so man. We don't have time to waste," Robotnik yelled, dismissing the link before returning attention to the technician. "Tell Nigel his re-enforcements should be on the way, but it is absolutely vital he retain control of Sector V. Without the generators in that sector, the city's entire power grid could be compromised."

"Sounds like you're really takin' a beating," announced a voice that caused the egg shaped human to look behind him. Sure enough, Sonic the Hedgehog stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips as he waited for a response.

"Here to gloat at my misery, rodent?" Eggman responded, a touch of bitterness in his voice. "I didn't think it in your nature to kick a man while he was down."

"Actually Doc, I came ta see if I could help," Sonic pointed out. "I do have a bit of experience in thwarting geeks with delusions of world conquest." Robotnik's fingers came together right in front of his nose as he contemplated this offer.

"The Battle Birds have captured Tails, haven't they?" he surmised. "That's the only reason you're offering to help me now."

"Not the only reason," the hedgehog pointed out. "I'd like to think I'd also help just to protect those people here who don't deserve to have their faces stomped, no matter how much of a creep their chosen leader used to be." Robotnik snickered at that. If Sonic was hurling insults, it was a good sign. It mean the hedgehog was feeling confident, and from personal experience Robotnik knew a confident Sonic was absolutely devastating to anyone he considered an enemy. "All you need to do is get me up to that flying fortress, and I'll put a stop to this whole invasion for you." Of course there was something to be said to the detriments of overconfidence.

"And just how do you expect me to do that, Sonic? Anything I send up will just get shot down by those insufferable planes of theirs. Or the guns of the very fortress you seek to invade. Best to wait now until we can find some way to counteract their air superiority."

"By then they'll have pounded us so far into the ground we'll be in Downunda," Sonic bit back. "Don't you have anything? What about that Stealth Metal Sonic you were so keen to show off to me a few hours ago? Don't you have a few more of him?"

"THE Stealth Mecha is already occupied putting out various fires throughout the city. I don't mass produce such robots easily, Sonic, especially if I'm not actually planning to use them in battle."

"What about the Incursion Shells, sir?" one of the techs asked, causing his overlord to visibly blink. The Robotnik began to rub his chin thoughtfully.

"The Incursion Shells? I'd forgotten all about them."

"Incursion Shells?" Sonic asked, lost in this conversation.

"Artillery shells possessed of conical, drilling heads to allow them to penetrate thick plates of armor. They're hollow inside to all them to carry various… payloads, most specifically active attack bots. When the shell gets inside, say, a bunker's armor, the robots are released to attack the inhabitants." Though tempted to ask when the doctor had intended to use such ordinance, Sonic pushed his suspicions aside. They needed to work together to reach their goals and throwing around accusations right now would get them nothing. "Do we have anything left capable of using those shells to hit the Battle Birds' ship?" The technician typed in a few keystrokes to his computer, looking for anything that could help.

"There are five long range cannon batteries on the south end of the city that have not been destroyed, mainly because they haven't fired a shot."

"Sounds like my ticket. Load me up," Sonic said

"Wait a minute, nobody said anything about you." Eggman countered. "Even assuming you could survive being shot out of such a high powered cannon, the chances of your flesh and blood body surviving the impact with the Battle-Birds' ship in anything resembling fighting shape are microscopic. I'll send in some of my robots to cause a stir and distract those feathered hooligans, get their planes and air forces distracted long enough to fly you up there." For a brief moment Sonic thought about this. Then he shook his head.

"Nuh-uh. I'm goin' up. And if I have to run up the side of one of those cannons and hitch a ride, you know I can do it." Eggman looked at the blue hedgehog for a moment, the tenseness of his body indicating quite well he was ready to carry out his promise.

"Very well," the doctor finally relented, standing up from his chair. "I know better than to argue with you when you get like this." The reformed villain turned towards his technician. "Scrape together whatever forces you can to accompany me to those batteries and find a way to transport the shells with us. We'll need to find some way to make the trip survivable."

"Are you sure this is wise sir?" the technician asked.

"No, just the opposite. But I'll not allow Eggtopia to fall to those chirping idiots without exhausting every single option available. Now do it." The man nodded to his overlord and began typing in all sorts of commands to the computer.

* * *

"Incoming!" Sonic yelled only a half hour later as a trio of Battle Bird planes dove at their small convoy, opening fire upon them. With reflexes better than contemporary soldiers, the E-series robots that were traveling with them opened fire as well, trying to destroy the aerial machines, or at least drive them off. Sonic raced to the top of one of the two trucks they had and made a leaping spin attack as well, ignoring any friendly fire that came his way as he managed to cut into one of the planes, opening its fuselage and causing it to leak. A second buzzsaw wizzed past the hedgehog, aided by what appeared to be rockets, as Stealth Mecha Sonic mimicked his namesake, completely destroying one of the other two planes. "Showoff," Sonic muttered as both landed. Though he had to admit Robotnik's newest copy of him was pretty good.

"Hurry up Sonic, or we'll never get there," Robotnik called from his seat in the truck, protected thanks to the vehicle's armor plating. The formerly evil scientist was busy running calculations through his head for firing the canons they were heading towards. Snidely his hedgehog ally hoped he was sitting on an unpadded spring. Still there was nothing to be done for it as Sonic pressed forward, latching onto the back of the lead truck to conserve his energy as the guard of robots trudged onward.

It felt strangely odd, this situation. How many of these same model robots had Sonic torn through over the course of his life? And now here he was, using them as back-up against someone else? Idly Sonic's eyes drifted skyward, to the battle fortress where he knew he had to go was.

A question had been forming in the back of his mind ever since this invasion had started. Just who was commanding the enemy forces? There was no way Tails's kidnapping had just been a random addition to their plans. The Battle Birds had held off revealing themselves until they could snatch the fox without any interference. And more likely the robots that had drawn Sonic and Tails to this island had been planted by the Tengu themselves which made the likelihood of this being a trap even more positive. Someone had wanted them here; someone had planned to attract Sonic's attention.

_'But who? The only Battle Bird Tails and I ever had a connection to was Kukku, and he's dead,'_ Sonic thought. For a brief moment the cobalt quickster considered that this might not be, but shook it from his head. '_Tails slammed the Tornado into that psycho's plane, he got Kentucky fried. G.U.N. couldn't even find enough uncharred feathers to make a duster, let alone a bird. So who's commanding them this time?'_

"Penny for your thoughts," a metallic voice droned, surprising Sonic out of his trance. Beside him, Stealth Mecha also clutched the back of the truck, his thrusters silent as he rode.

"You gotta stop doing that. Not for nothing, but given my history with you 'Sonic' series robots, it's not smart to keep sneaking up on me." Red optics flashed for a bit, a clear sign that the robot was processing what it had heard.

"You refer to your continuous conflicts with the mark four and lower versions? They were built to destroy you and programmed to hate you. I am merely modeled in your image. To me, you are simply a curiosity I wish to understand. From your file, I would have bet… 'dollars to donuts' that you would ignore any pleas for help from the Doctor. Not even considering actually volunteering to help him."

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I am attempting to understand and integrate metaphoric devices such as euphemisms into my speech patterns. Some are working better than others."

"I guess that's cool," Sonic responded, though he wasn't really interested in carrying on a conversation with what he considered a walking toaster oven. Unfortunately, Stealth Mecha seemed less inclined to leave him alone.

"'Cool?'" Red eyes flashed again. "Ah, slang. That will be the next device I try to integrate I think. Then I shall be 'jive,' 'hip,' 'funky, funky fresh' as well."

"Please stop that," Sonic said flatly, just a little creeped out. "Why do you wanna use slang anyway? Most robots I know prefer being short and to the point."

"I began this conversation asking you a question, and was in turn asked a question myself which I answered, yet received no answer for myself. Is it not considered 'rude attitude' to not answer another's question?"

"What, you mean why I'm helping 'Buttni… Robotnik? You were serious about that?" The metal hedgehog shook his head. "Well, for one thing the featherheads kidnapped my best friend, but even if that wasn't the case I'd probably be here diggin' Eggman out of trouble. Just because he was a bully a few years ago doesn't give the Battle Birds the right to bully him."

"Interesting. You apply your sense of right and wrong to all cases, even to one who obviously would not honor such a sense in his own way," the robot surmised. One of Sonic's eyebrows rose at this statement.

"You're rather free with decrying your creator. I don't think I've ever heard one of Robotnik's creations condemn him like that."

"You misunderstand. I do not condemn the Doctor for his practicality; I simply find your willingness to put yourself through such straits to be interesting. I wonder if it is a habit learned or simply a part of your own programming."

* * *

Past (11 years ago.)

* * *

Miles's head hurt.

It more than hurt, it was throbbing.

Throbbing so badly he could barely think. Not the best of state of mind to be in given his mood. Quickly he reached over his desk to open the small bottle of aspirin he kept there, popping two of the gel pills into his mouth and swallowing. Then he placed his head in his hands and waited for the medicine to take effect.

It had been a rough year, all things considered. Speculation as to the reason for the fox's extended stay in the hospital had caused Prower Aerodynamic's stocks to falter. Thankfully no one knew exactly why Robert had kept him for so long. Miles didn't even want to think about the panic that would set in if the fact that the company's CEO was regressing into a little baby was discovered. That didn't stop people from wondering if perhaps he hadn't been diagnosed with some sort of terminal disease. The only way around that was to keep active in the company, to let no one think he was passing the reigns off to someone else, even for a moment.

But that didn't mean nobody knew. G.U.N. had found out, much to Dr. Labris's fury and Miles's consternation. Apparently it was G.U.N.'s prerogative to keep tabs on civilians they worked with. And of course their curiosity had led them to ask the obvious question, if Miles was in danger of losing his memory, how could he be trusted to run a company as important as Prower Aerodynamic?

The fox growled a bit at the memory of that. No doubt he would have to work doubly hard to get the new contracts from the military. That could mean a serious dent would be put in the company's overall finances, unless he could make up the potential difference through more private contracts. Such as the one from MeteoTech. Miles cringed at the thought of having to take up that company's business again. He still didn't feel right about their technology that turned living creatures into machines, even if they were calling it medical in nature.

All this paled before the biggest problem in his life, Sonic. The boy hedgehog had been becoming more and more of a delinquent as of late, skipping classes, getting into trouble, and basically causing all sorts of problems for himself. Even tonight Miles was expected to show up at his son's school for a meeting with the Principal. Sonic had apparently attacked a classmate.

The fox shuddered. He really wished Sonic had chosen a different time to enter his rebellious phase.

"Mr. Prower," Michael Cervid said quietly, announcing his presence even as he had silently entered his employer's office and strode up to his desk without Miles noticing. The deer's massive hand placed a stack of papers on the desk. "Here are the reports on the new project the labs have been working on."

"That 'Magness Generator' thing they were talking about?" Miles asked as he lifted the papers up to look at them. His brow furrowed as his mind worked to understand the technical jargon that had been thrown into the report. "So the preliminary tests went off without a hitch?"

"The theories behind the device seem to be sound, sir. It will only be harnessing them to create the desired effect," Cervid said. "They would very much like your input on the project."

"I'll… try to make time," Miles responded, putting down the report. At his response, the fox's loyal assistant grunted quietly, causing the vulpine to look up. "Problem?"

"Not as such, though I would point out that there was a time you would have leapt at the chance to go down into the labs. Now you seem less than interested at the prospect."

"Gee I wonder why?" The giant deer opened his mouth as if to respond only to be stopped by the fox. "I understand your concern but you don't need to be. I'm merely being cautious."

"'Cautious' and 'Miles Prower' are virtually antonyms, sir," the deer stated. "I'd like to again suggest you take Dr. Labris's advice. It might be beneficial for you to seek psychiatric help with this."

"Absolutely not," the fox barked back. "I'm not about to let this become a circus."

"I'm sure I could find a doctor who would be discreet," Cervid assured him. Miles simply shook his head.

"No. That's my final word on the subject." The personal assistant bowed his head in acknowledgement of this.

"Very well. I should remind you you have to be at Olgilvie's school fairly soon. It would be prudent of you to finish up whatever business you are currently working on so you are not late."

"Thank you," the fox said as he pulled out a folder to put the report he'd been handed into for later reading.

* * *

"Olgilvie has always been a spirited boy, Mr. Prower," Mrs. Magpie said as she stared at the fox from behind her desk. Nearby, the hedgehog in question sat by his father, his arms crossed as he scowled at the avian. He did not want to be here, and he wasn't about to hide that fact. "Very full of energy, very willful, but ultimately a good boy all the same. I'll admit to a few of his teachers becoming rather exasperated with him, just as I'll admit to there being conflicts between his actions and a few of the school's rules. Still there isn't a faculty member here who didn't also have good things to say about your son. But his behavior over the past year has gone beyond the pale of simple childhood mischief." The principal looked at Sonic, as if checking to make sure he had not made use of his super speed to jet off. Not that that was possible. Miles had forced his son to wear normal shoes for the night just for that reason.

"I can understand your concern, Mrs. Magpie," Miles stated. "And rest assured my son's activities of late have been a concern of mine as well." Miles looked down at his son, a look on his face that told the scowling cub to behave. Sonic "hmph"-ed at this but stopped his glare, simply choosing to look away from his principal and over at a corner in the room. Mrs. Magpie got up from her chair just long enough to open a file cabinet behind her and pull out a folder before sitting down again.

"Be that as it may, I feel I should point out FIGHTING is severely frowned upon at this school." Again Sonic was favored with an angry glare by his parent. Oh yes, there would be more words on this subject even after this meeting was over.

"It's not like it was my fault, you know," Sonic finally spoke up, attempting to mitigate punishment by defending himself. "Ryan was the one who wouldn't shut up. So I shut him up."

"Ah yes, Ryan Korzinsky was other side in this little fracas. According to your son, the young man made some disparaging remarks to him, for which Sonic felt the need to assault him in return."

"And what did this Ryan boy say to that accusation?"

"The boy was crying through a black eye, a bloody nose, and a swollen lip. He was in no condition to do anything but go to the nurse's office and then home." Seeing that Sonic was about to protest what he would obviously interpret as preferential treatment, Mrs. Magpie held up her feathery hand. "Rest assured, Olgilivie, I do plan to have words with Ryan AND his parents about this. That he has a history of verbally abusive behavior is not unknown to me, but it is also beside the point."

"What, so it was all right for him to call me a freaky little pincushion?" the indignant hedgehog asked. Miles's eyebrow rose at this. It had been a while since Sonic had felt the need to defend himself against such a slight. Mrs. Magpie looked aghast.

"Certainly not, Mr. Prower, and as I said I shall be having words with him about this as well. But the fact remains that, in this school, in civilized society, we do not respond to such things by beating up on the aggressor. You could have informed the lunchroom monitor, your teacher, myself, or your counselor. You could have even waited to speak with your father here and then Mr. Korzinsky would be the one in trouble right now, not yourself."

"Bet you wouldn't feel the same way if you were in my shoes," Sonic huffed back, once more crossing his arms as he looked away. Mrs. Magpie let out a sigh.

"As you can see, your son shows absolutely no remorse for his actions. For that alone I have no choice but to place him on suspension for three days."

"Suspension?" hedgehog and fox said in unison, though the tones of their voices were markedly different. While Sonic was excited at the prospect of have three sanctioned days off from school, Miles was clearly displeased.

"Isn't there some way to avoid such a punishment? I would hate to see Sonic's record marred by such a thing as a suspension," he asked. The principal shook her head.

"I might have considered something else had he seemed genuinely sorry for what he'd done, but the fact that he doesn't seem so means I have no choice but to issue the full penalty. I'm sorry, but that will have to be my final word on the subject." Miles let out a growl as he shook his head, a hand rising to cover his eyes as he contemplated this.

"Very well, if that is the last word, so be it," the fox finally said in an even tone.

"I should also warn you that if this type of behavior persists, Sonic could face expulsion."

"Oh I guarantee that will not happen," Miles suddenly sprang up, casting a warning look at his hot-tempered son. "If I have to send him to school in a straightjacket and muzzle, I guarantee it." Sonic's eyes widened at this prospect, wondering just how much his father meant such a declaration. It was shortly after that the meeting ended and both Prowers were seated in the back of Miles's car, his driver taking them home. It was a quiet trip, eerily so, and it stayed that way until they reached Skytop Towers. Even George the doorman could tell something was up and wisely refrained from asking any questions.

As soon as they were in their apartment, Sonic quickened his step, making a beeline for his room. Miles was not about to let him slink off so easily.

"Hold it right there young man," the fox said in his most authoritative tone. "We're not done." Sonic let out an exasperated sigh, conveying exactly how annoyed he was with this whole business. Like lightning a hand grabbed his shoulder and roughly dragged him back over to the couch, forcing him to sit.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, more than a little upset over being manhandled in such a way. "Yeah didn't have to do that you know!" he spat at the fox, angry now.

"Cut the attitude Olgilvie," the fox snapped, a finger in extended to point at the hedgehog's face. Sonic's eyes widened, more from the use of his real name than from the finger. Miles rarely called his son Olgilvie, but it was one of the signs indicating the fox was angry. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in."

"I got suspended, I get it," Sonic responded, trying to regain some of his cockiness. "So I'll stay home for a few days and 'think about what I've done.'"

"No, you don't 'get it.' Suspension is just how much trouble you're in with the school. Now you get to hear my feelings on the subject." Miles turned away from his son, composing himself as he thought about what he wanted to say. "First, I wanna know what you were thinking when you beat up that boy."

"Nuthin'," Sonic responded, crossing his arms and looking away. Miles rounded on him.

"Nothing? You weren't thinking anything?" the fox didn't so much as ask as accuse. "So this was just an act of mindless violence on your part? No more than a savage beast attacking a little kid?"

"Hey, he wasn't exactly the innocent you seem to wanna make him out to be!" Sonic bit back. "He was the one who was calling me names. I couldn't just let him get away with that."

"Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Miles retorted.

"Bet he won't be calling me a freak again."

"Only when you're there. When you're back is turned, he's gonna have no end of nasty things to say about you. And the only one you'll have to blame is yourself."

"Dude, why are you taking his side?" Sonic yelled, jumping to his feet.

"I'm not. He had no right to call you names, you are right about that. I am furious at your lack of good judgment in resolving the situation though, a judgment you seem to have been lacking for most of this year."

"Says you." Miles let out an angry growl.

"Yes says me! Yes says your teachers! Yes says virtually everyone you know! Do you know Ray's Grandmother doesn't want you around him anymore? She says you're turning into a hoodlum. And don't even get me started on Mighty and Carl's parents."

"So! Who cares? I don't!" Sonic bit back.

"I do! And so should you! What do you think is going to happen if you keep going like this? They'll lock you up like some wild animal. Is that what you want for yourself?"

"Better than the alternative!" Miles blinked as he heard this, not quite sure if his ears were working correctly.

"What are you talking about? What alternative?"

"Oh like you don't know," Sonic bit back. "You're dying, that creep Labris as much as said so. And he doesn't know when. Neither do you. But when it happens, I'm done too." An alarmed look crossed the fox's face as he took in this speculation. It wasn't as if Sonic knowing Miles was sick was a surprise, but the adult Prower had not realized his hedgehog son had been thinking about it so hard. Especially since Miles himself hadn't.

It wasn't as though Miles didn't care, quite the opposite. Sonic more important to him than anything else. But the hedgehog had a point. If Miles was suddenly gone, or even taken to a point he could no longer feasibly be considered there, Sonic would be all alone again, in a world that might not be overly willing to cut him anymore breaks. Even as he considered that possibility, the fox got a nasty taste in his mouth. Thinking about this felt too much like just giving up, like he was surrendering to the inevitable.

Like he was going to die.

Furry shoulders shuddered as that thought moved through Miles's mind, and he shook his head to bring himself back to reality.

"Is that what you think?" he asked, his voice even and neutral. "Do you honestly think I'd just leave you in the lurch like that? That I'm so callous?" Sonic's eyes darted away, unable to look into his father's blue ones after such an accusation. "I would hope, after all this time, you'd trust me, to have your best interests at heart."

"It's not just that. I don't want to just be 'taken care of.' I don't want to just have someone to raise me. You said we'd be together forever. But now we're not. It's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair."

"Tell me about it," Sonic growled, a small tear forming in his large eye. "It wasn't fair when I lost my real Mom and Dad. It wasn't fair when I got born a mutant. It wasn't fair when I got stuck in that stupid orphanage. It wasn't fair when everyone kept treating me like a freak. And it wasn't fair when that nutjob Kukku tried to kill me. But at least I got you out of the deal and I thought maybe, just maybe that made up for everything else." Sonic took a breath. "And now I'm gonna lose you too. Don't tell me life isn't fair, I know it." Miles really didn't have an answer for that. He was not in the habit of making promises he couldn't deliver, especially to his son, and the sad truth was, he didn't know if he could beat this "Merlin's Disease." Wasn't that the reason he was reluctant to get involved in the new projects going on at his company? Fear of not being around to finish it.

_ 'And if I'm afraid of not being around to finish some stupid project, where does that leave Sonic?'_ he thought to himself. First he had other things to deal with.

"Well be that as it may, life is about to get a little less 'fair,'" the fox said to the hedgehog. "First and foremost, you're not gonna be staying here during your suspension. I'm not about to leave you unsupervised after getting in that much trouble."

"Fine, so I'll be with Axelby. Big whoop."

"MRS. Axelby is out of town visiting friends. And I'm not about to inflict you on any of the building's other inhabitants in the mood you're in. So you're coming with me to the office."

"Argh!" Sonic groaned. "There's never anything to do there."

"Oh don't worry Olgilvie, there'll be plenty of things to do tomorrow, I'll make very sure of that. And that's not all," Miles continued, pulling a pad of paper and a pen from Sonic's backpack. "You're going to be writing an apology to that boy you beat up. And it's going to be a sincere apology, chalk full of 'I'm sorry'-es and 'forgive me'-s. And, until I'm convinced you are sincere about it, you can kiss those running shoes of yours goodbye."

"You already took 'em away from me, remember," Sonic snapped back.

"As a matter of fact, I haven't," Miles retorted. "Since you were already supposed to be without them for a week, I'll just suspend that little punishment until you're done with this one. That way, once you get your letter done, you'll only have four more days to wait until you get the shoes back."

"That's not fair!"

"I refer you to our previous discussion regarding fairness and life in general. And I might point out that you could be spending a night in Juvenile Hall for assaulting someone, so this is actually more than fair." The fox paused for a moment, allowing that to sink in. Sonic merely glared at his father, though in the back of his mind he wondered just whether or not the elder Prower would really allow him to suffer such a fate. "Now then, I suggest you get to bed. We both have to get up bright and early tomorrow, and the only ones allowed to sleep during the day in my building are the night watchmen." Sensing he'd been dismissed, the petulant hedgehog hopped up off the couch and stomped his feet angrily as he went to his room, grumbling under his breath as he did so. As he watched the spiny blue tail disappear and the door slam shut, Miles could only let out an exasperated sigh.

_'What am I gonna do with that boy?'_ he thought, rubbing his head.

* * *

To be continued…


End file.
